In the farthest outreach to date of Professor June Jordan's Poetry for the People program, 14 Berkeley students are touring New York City reading their poetry in public places such as cafes, bookstores and on the radio March 22 to 29.
"First and foremost, it's an attempt to do a bicoastal exchange of young voices," said Xochiquetzal Candelaria, an undergraduate and member of the tour. "We address community issues as well as political issues with our poetry, everything from the welfare reform bill to social questions."
Jordan's group holds readings and workshops at Glide Memorial Church and Berkeley High School. But with the tour, "our student poets are being treated the way all-star basketball and all-star football players get treated. This is an all-star event in humanities," said Jordan, a professor of African American Studies. Sponsors include the Division of Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies. n
Mr. President
before you sign a bill
that pushes 1.2 million more
children
into poverty
please take a walk with my father
hike past the one room houses
of gray wood
and you will find a narrow road
of copper earth
cleaving to this hill my father calls
gods country
cuz this mound of earth offers
a bed of white flowers
red rock
and wind to wash the sun down
offers my father a moment with a child
who runs fierce up to ridges
reaches for black stones like gold
but returns tired
to my father
who swings this child onto his back
for the rest of the climb
an ancient act
an affirmative action
of love
so before your ink stains a child's day
take a walk
talk to a man that stands
like a mountain
by Xochiquetzal Candelaria