June Jordan: Poet of Solidarity

In a culture of war that is governed by destructive military and political power, June Jordan‘s (1936-2002) poetry bears witness to the less voiced people, protesting against U.S. foreign policy and its militarist and economic interests in less representative countries of the developed world. Her activist life, African American origins, and her racial experience are the crucial factors that inspired her verse to write verse that breaks down the margins of nation and ethnicity. She sought to dedicate her art that is set within a poetic and political framework, individualistic and collective to proclaim justice, reveal the lives of ordinary people-their loves, desires, struggles, and aspirations, fostering the vision of Martin Luther King‘s ‗beloved community.‘It is the purpose of this paper to examine Jordan‘s later poetry of anti-militarism, and her stance of war-resistance, arguing that she has not only transcended the radical militancy of 1960s African American thought but also has created a literary and cultural shift that is necessary to sustain marginalized lives. The way she connects black people‘s racial segregation to the injustices practiced against countries of the Third World, especially Middle Eastern countries like Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq is to be examined in relation to Jordan‘s poetic concept of solidarity. Her use of the black vernacular, flowing and dialogic language that implement democracy and oppose the mainstream of media stories along with the use of linguistic and aesthetic gestures are other vital issues this study intends to explore. It also tends to reveal how Jordan‘s poetry and poetic form stand as a carrier of consciousness and as a tool for cultural change. Poems for discussion are selected from her later poetry of the 1980s and 1990s.