<DIV><p>&ldquo;<I>Directed by Desire</I> . . . is a powerful addition to the entire canon of American poetry.&rdquo;&mdash;<I>Booklist</I></p> <p>Now in paperback, <I>Directed by Desire</I> is the definitive overview of June Jordan&rsquo;s -poetry. Collecting the finest work from Jordan&rsquo;s ten volumes, as well as dozens of &ldquo;last poems&rdquo; that were never published in Jordan&rsquo;s lifetime, these more than six hundred pages overflow with intimate lyricism, elegance, fury, meditative solos, and dazzling vernacular riffs. </p> <p>As Adrienne Rich writes in her introduction, June Jordan &ldquo;wanted her readers, listeners, students, to feel their own latent power&mdash;of the word, the deed, of their own beauty and intrinsic value.&rdquo; </p> <p> <B>From &ldquo;These Poems&rdquo;:</B> </p> <p> <I>These poems</I> <BR> <I>they are things that I do</I> <BR> <I>in the dark</I> <BR> <I>reaching for you</I> <BR> <I>whoever you are</I> <BR> <I>and</I> <BR> <I>are you ready?</I> </p> <p>The cloth edition of <I>Directed by Desire</I> was selected as a <I>Library Journal</I> Poetry Book of the Year and received the Lambda Book Award for Lesbian Poetry. </p> <p> <B>June Jordan</B> taught at UC Berkeley for many years and founded Poetry for the People. Her twenty-eight books include poetry, essays, fiction, and children&rsquo;s books. She was a regular columnist for <I>The Progressive</I> and a prolific writer whose articles appeared in <I>The Village Voice, The New York Times, Ms. Magazine,</I> and <I>The Nation.</I> After her death in 2002, a school in the San Francisco School District was renamed in her honor.</p></DIV>