June Jordan, a poet, playwright, and essayist, was a celebrated Jamaican American author recognized for her passionate dedication to human rights and political activism. 

Jordan engaged with the fundamental struggles of her era: civil rights, women’s rights, and sexual freedom. 

A prolific writer across genres, Jordan published twenty-seven volumes of poems, essays, libretti, and works for children. Her poetry is often deeply autobiographical. 

With Terri Bush, she edited The Voice of the Children and also edited the influential Soulscript: Afro-American Poetry.

Jordan also wrote a regular column for the Progressive. Some of it is published in Us Did Not Die: New and Selected Essays of June Jordan.

The essays cover a broad array of topics, including sexism, racism, Black English, the author's travels, the decline of the U.S. educational system, and the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001. 

In an interview with Alternative Radio before her death, Jordan was asked about the role of the poet in society. Jordan replied: “The role of the poet, beginning with my own childhood experience, is to earn the trust of people who know that what you do is work with words. Always be as honest as possible and as careful with the trust invested in you as you can. I feel that it’s a spiritual task.”

Sharing one of her poems titled, “Poem for My Love” - 

How do we come to be here next to each other   

in the night

Where are the stars that show us to our love   

inevitable

Outside the leaves flame usual in darkness   

and the rain

falls cool and blessed on the holy flesh   

the black men waiting on the corner for   

a womanly mirage

I am amazed by peace

It is this possibility of you

asleep

and breathing in the quiet air