Poem for Haruko

“Poem for Haruko” by June Jordan originally appeared in the 1994 collection Haruko: Love Poems from High Risk Books. It is also collected in Directed By Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (2005) from Copper Canyon Press. The 29-line poem is written in unrhymed free verse in four stanzas. In the poem, the speaker remembers past moments in an intimate relationship with a now-absent lover. They recall the way the light played through the lover’s hair and a walk on the beach. The speaker considers the emotional fullness of the relationship—the difficulties as well as the joy. At the end of the poem, the speaker acknowledges a change in perspective: While, at one time, they didn’t consider themself someone who would “keep a record” (Line 1) of their past, by the end of the poem, they hold dear the “bitter / and the sweet” (Lines 26-27)—the emotional complexities of remembering a lost love.

Poet Biography

Poet, essayist, playwright, educator, and activist June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York, in 1936, and grew up in Brooklyn. Her parents emigrated from Jamaica. Jordan credits her father for passing on a love of literature and for encouraging her writing; in an interview with Essence magazine, she refers to her father as both “my hero and my tyrant” (Poetry Foundation).