Love Poems // (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Pre-order, Feb 2 2027)

A landmark collection of love poetry by the most widely published African American poet of her time, tracing the arc of a queer relationship and including some of her most famous poems

A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper

With the publication in 1993 ofLove Poems(published asHaruko / Love Poems), June Jordan became the first major Black poet to write a collection composed entirely of love poems. In the first half of the collection, Jordan wrestles with the heartbreak of her doomed relationship with a woman identified only by her first name, Haruko. In the second half,which brings together poems written over the course of twenty years, including some of her most famous, like Poem About My Rights, Resolution #1,003, I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies, and Poem Number Two on Bells Theorem, she explores various manifestations of loveas romance and political resistance, selfhood and motherhood, connection to and alienation from a beautiful and often cruel world. With this Penguin Classics edition, June Jordan takes her place in the American canon alongside her contemporaries Audre Lorde, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Nikki Giovanni, and bell hooks.

June Jordan (19362002) was a poet, activist, journalist, essayist, teacher, and the author of more than twenty-five works of poetry, fiction, essays, and childrens books. Active in the civil rights, feminist, antiwar, and gay and lesbian rights movements, she was a professor of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she founded the influential poetry program Poetry for the People. Among her honors were a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a National Book Award nomination, and a congressional citation for her outstanding contributions to literature, the progressive movement, and the civil rights movement.

aja monet (foreword) is a spoken word poet, musician, and activist. Her debut poetry collection, My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and her debut poetry album, When the Poems Do What They Do, was nominated for a Grammy Award. monet is the youngest winner of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam and the recipient of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award for Poetry, the Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, The Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award, the EBONY Power 100 Artist In Residence Award, and the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Vanguard Award.

Adrienne Rich (19292012; afterword) was a poet, essayist, radical feminist, public intellectual, and leader in the fight for sexual equality. She wrote two dozen volumes of poetry, including the National Book Awardwinning Diving into the Wreck.

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publish Date: February 02, 2027
• Pages: 160
• Language: English
• Type: Paperback
• EAN/UPC: 9780143139423
• Dimensions: 7.5 X 5.1 X 0.4 inches | 0.3 pounds
• BISAC Categories: Poetry