June Jordan, "Financial Planning" & "Song of the Law Abiding Citizen"
From left: Herman Beavers, Bob Holman, Christy Davids
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Al Filreis convened Bob Holman, Christy Davids, and Herman Beavers to talk about two poems by the late June Jordan. The two poems are “Financial Planning ” and “Song of the Law Abiding Citizen ,” and the easiest place to find the texts of these poems is Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), with its foreword by Adrienne Rich. Our recordings of Jordan’s performance of these poems comes from the “Poetry Spots” series which was created by our Bob Holman and aired on WNYC-TV as “non-commercial commercials” from 1987 through 1993. The original air date of the two June Jordan segments was April 26, 1989. For PoemTalk we play audio-only versions (this and this ) but we want to urge our listeners to watch copies of the old videos available through YouTube. HERE is June performing “Financial Planning.” And HERE is the spot in which she presents her “Song of the Law Abiding Citizen.”
February 23, 2025