Poem for Haruko

I never thought I’d keep a record of my pain

or happiness

like candles lighting the entire soft lace

of the air

around the full length of your hair/a shower

organized by God

in brown and auburn

undulations luminous like particles

of flame

But now I do

retrieve an afternoon of apricots

and water interspersed with cigarettes

and sand and rocks

we walked across:

How easily you held

my hand

beside the low tide

of the world

Now I do

relive an evening of retreat

a bridge I left behind

where all the solid heat

of lust and tender trembling

lay as cruel and as kind

as passion spins its infinite

tergiversations in between the bitter

and the sweet

Alone and longing for you

now I do

Copyright Credit: June Jordan, "Poem for Haruko" from Directed by Desire. Copyright © 2005, 2020 by the June Jordan Literary Estate Trust. Reprinted by permission www.junejordan.com.

Source: Directed by Desire (Copper Canyon Press, 2005)