A review by cebolla
Haruko/Love Poems by June Jordan

lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

Not counting the year or so that I was obsessed with Charles Bukowski, I think I've read more poetry in the past year than I have in the rest of my life combined. I don't know what that says about me or the times I'm living in, but there it is. 

I first heard June Jordan mentioned when I moved to Boulder in 2005. I don't remember what the context was, but it happened a number of times over the previous twenty years, until I finally went out and bought a book of hers. 

Haruko/Love poems was alright. Unlike the other poetry I've read this year, it didn't suck me in; it didn't transport me to a different world; it didn't make me visualize everything I was reading. Sure, there were lines here and there, and maybe a poem or two, that gave me the feels, but for the most part I rushed through and just wanted to get to the next one. 

I'm not done with Jordan though; I've heard a lot of radical things about her (and some of it was apparent in this book), and next time I'll choose a book that's more along those lines, instead of some corny love poems.