June Jordan’s Poetry for the People (Expanded Edition): A Revolutionary Blueprint

by June Jordan

This thirtieth-anniversary edition of June Jordan’s foundational poetry program guidebook features a foreword by Hanif Abdurraqib and a new preface from Samiya Bashir.

If you want to know how to teach poetry—in a university, a high school, at a nature preserve, in a hospital, or in your living room—read this book.

June Jordan's Poetry for the People details how to build a grassroots poetry program through a collection of strategies, sample student work, course descriptions, and a step-by-step guide to organizing and promoting readings, alongside original writing from Adrienne Rich, Joy Harjo, Ntozake Shange, and Cornelius Eady.

Now with a guide to teaching ethically in the digital age, this easy-to-use, timely reference is perfect for teachers of poetry at any level and in any group setting.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Education, Teaching, Feminism, Social Justice, Writing

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1995

About the author

June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was a Caribbean-American poet and activist.

Jordan received numerous honors and awards, including a 1969-70 Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a Yaddo Fellowship in 1979, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1982, and the Achievement Award for International Reporting from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1984. Jordan also won the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award from 1995 to 1998 as well as the Ground Breakers-Dream Makers Award from The Woman's Foundation in 1994.

She was included in Who's Who in America from 1984 until her death. She received the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship from UC Berkeley and the PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award (1991).

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[BookChampions]

Published in 1995 well before youth poetry movements exploded in the 21st century, this book is beautiful but somewhat dated. Undoubtedly it is a magical recapturing of June Jordan and her collective's work to make poetry something we ALL can use and do.

While this is not an ESSENTIAL read, it means a lot to me. I read it early in my teaching career, maybe 2005, and visiting it again now, in 2021, makes it seem even more revolutionary and still very instructive. I can use the stuff outlined in this book to do the antiracist, revolutionary change I want to bring to my classroom.

[Katie]

I don't really know what to make of this book, or even how to describe it. The book grew out of the famous poetry class that June Jordan taught at Berkeley for many years, and it's something of a hodge podge. The book is essentially a compilation of materials for and by the class: student writings (both poetry and personal reflections), a sample syllabus, lists of classroom ground rules, tips for staging readings, etc. The book came out in the early nineties, and often feels a bit dated in some of its earnest political correctness and focus on identity politics. But June Jordan was an incredibly impressive poet and activist, and the book is definitely imbued with her sense of poetry as a real tool for change. It's an interesting book, I'm just not sure how useful it is unless you happen to be trying to initiate your own version of the Poetry for the People course.

[Beth]

A mix of everything: how to (write a poem/plan a reading/publish an anthology) guide, poetry collection, curriculum, bibliography, reflection on experience. The variation in content type from page to page threw me off a little, but I found this to be a rich resource. Wish I was still teaching!

[Ananda Esteva]

I co-wrote this book....

[Pachyderm Bookworm]

How to produce, promote, propigate, and pontificate your very own poetry through June Jordan's collective poetry workshop project, with its adjunct business model.

[Casey]

A classic. The guidelines were SO helpful. The intro is everything. I love June Jordan. Some was not as helpful for me since I’m not running a PFP program but nevertheless a good read.

[Wendy]

I found this book in a used bookstore in Mexico City -- one of the only English-language books on the wonderful, musty shelves -- when I was living there. It was such a delight, while living and working in a place where I had no writing group and didn't even know anyone who could read what I was writing. This book has traveled with me in the decade since I read it, through my MFA program, through my first two books, through the first classes I taught. Thank you, June!

[Amy]

this book has a lot of awesome poetry by young people, as well as exercises you can do if you teach (or want to learn) poetry. even if you don't teach poetry but you're into radical education - or if you're not into education, but you study or studied literature- take a look at this book...

[James Tracy]

Anyone looking to introduce poetry to a younger crowd, say in a classroom or or community setting should get this book.

[Maleka]

Very inspiring plan to bring poetry to the masses from the classes that June Jordan used to teach in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Loved it.

[Christina Olivares]

made me wanna be a poet activist teacher scholar when i grew up. read it when i was 13 and changed my life.