SOURCE: "Dreams Deferred," in American Book Review, Vol. 16, No. 6, March-May, 1995, p. 26.

In the following review, Randall presents an appreciation of Jordan's skill and thematic range in Haruko/Love Poems.

June Jordan's work, at this point and for many years now, is perfect. That is, not a word too many, none too few, nothing at all other than it must be. She says exactly what she means to say, and says it so powerfully that the reader (or fortunate, listener) hears each phrase; isolated, made specific, an essential part of the whole. From the collected poems in Naming Our Destiny to the precise columns in The Progressive and spartan essays (Civil Wars; On Call, South End, and Technical Difficulties), hers is a voice that epitomizes wise sister, alter ego, conscience, song. She manages to tap that place where race and sexuality, class and justice, gender and memory come together...