July 4, 1974

By June Jordan 1936–2002 June Jordan

Washington, D.C.

At least it helps me to think about my son

a Leo/born to us

(Aries and Cancer) some

sixteen years ago

in St. John’s Hospital next to the Long Island

Railroad tracks

Atlantic Avenue/Brooklyn

New York

at dawn

which facts

do not really prepare you

(do they)

for him

angry

serious

and running through the darkness with his own

becoming light

June Jordan, “July 4, 1974” from Directed By Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by The June M. Jordan Literary Trust. Used by permission of The June M. Jordan Literary Trust, www.junejordan.com.

Source: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005)

Biography

One of the most widely-published and highly-acclaimed African American writers of her generation, poet, playwright and essayist June Jordan was also known for her fierce commitment to human rights and progressive political agenda. Over a career that produced twenty-seven volumes of poems, essays, libretti, and work for children, Jordan engaged the fundamental struggles of her era: over civil rights, women’s rights, and sexual . . .

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