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Remembering June Jordan

"Her writing showed me that it was okay to be angry."

Listen to this Commentary!

By Belia Mayeno-Choy

Before June Jordan, my experience of poetry was limited to writing sappy poems lamenting ninth grade ex-boyfriends and analyzing the occasional stanza for my English class.

I'm Belia Mayeno-Choy with a commentary from Youth Radio.

But enrolling in her "Poetry 4 the People" program changed the way I understood the power and scope of poetry. Suddenly I understood that I was free to write about what I saw in any words I wanted, beyond slang-peppered conversations or rigid term paper English.

Her writing showed me that it was okay to be angry. She encouraged rebellion against the social structures that told me my gender, my heritage and my class made me inferior. She still wrote very soulful poems about love and romance and intimacy, but more important to me, she eloquently expressed the struggle of being a woman of color.

Through June Jordan's poems, I learned that I am allowed to feel however I want about the world around me. I have a right to step forward and speak my truth, which is what I do, each and every time I put my pen to paper and write a poem.

For Youth Radio, I'm Belia Mayeno-Choy