A Van Jordan
Biographic Data
| ID | 974970 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Van Jordan |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Jordan |
| SIGNATURE | VAN JORDAN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Michigan |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Langston Hughes Makes a Scene the Way a Jazz Musician Plays a Solo
Langston Hughes's understanding of both associative language patterning and the development of scene within his poems shows a keen sense not only of his understanding of the African American iconography he drew from but also of his commitment to represent it on the page. It's not news that Hughes was a “race man,” but it's increasingly important to observe how he used racial referents in the crafting of his poems. Over time, Hughes's poems have b…
Bearden's "Realm of Shades", and: Aerial View: Jackson State College
Bearden’s “Realm of Shades”, and: Aerial View: Jackson State College A. Van Jordan (bio) BEARDEN’S “REALM OF SHADES” To hold on to the memories of home,the haunting memories, the ones that came to him even as a child,before there were memories to forget, Odysseus would try to forget their omenof violence, poverty, and unemployment before they took root within him;he set sail for lands unknown, leaving home in his mind, dreaming,knowing there was …
Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep* A. Van Jordan (bio) Men with the gentlest hands, men with boys at home, with wives to love, get up every day and work in the slaughterhouse, draining the blood out of themselves just to make an honest case for their misery. And it’s beautiful to behold endurance in the worker who knows love motivates more than money. Sometimes a knee above a shaven calf on a woman, the thought of his finger making circles on her knee, while she s…
Rififi
Rififi* A. Van Jordan (bio) They take as men are wont to do—with zeal, like men who want more from the world, which sounds like a noble endeavor, but when they plan, their plans involve hurting others, if necessary, like men will do when they desire and every building, every storefront window, every locked door, every vault with jewels, even an open door, or a cop on a beat watching a building, forms a means to an end. The entire world fills with…
M
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes* A. Van Jordan (bio) Through the silence, the shoes are a night without someone to share a bed with, though a storm builds outside the bedroom window. Naked is her body without her red shoes; red is the sky in the dream of the shoes at her feet. A woman is a woman without red shoes laced on her arched feet, but the shoes dance whether she laces them up or not. The woman who is not a dancer will dance once she laces the shoes on her …
From Thought Clouds
Rope
Rope A. Van Jordan (bio) Mrs. Alberta Cox As if two girls were starting a fire On all sides of my daughter, She is set ablaze: the girls swing Two clotheslines between them As if they were goddesses Holding two country roads Leading to each other; neighbors Surround her syncopated dance As her seizure of heat begins To flicker on the moonlit sidewalk— Now, the ropes are white hot— Her hair ignites in the upswing; her barrettes, Like petrified but…
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" A. Van Jordan (bio) September 12, 1976 INTERIOR—NIGHT—Panning shot of MACNOLIA's bedroom on her death bed. The melody seeps through her room Like a bad man's walk, something sexy In one step, something sinister In the other. The bed's bones creak as Death slips under the sheets. Nightstands At either side of her headboard hold Her combs, while the sun cries mercy At 7pm. She looks up scared From her book's curled, yellow pag…
The Poem is Smarter Than The Poet: An Interview with A. Van Jordan
A. Van Jordan. Photo by Carla Fielder. [End Page 908] This interview was conducted on June 8, 2004, by telephone between College Station, Texas, and Greensboro, North Carolina, where A. Van Jordan, an Ohio native, lives. ROWELL: When I pick up Rise, your first book of poems, I am first struck by your love of music. Music has apparently had a major impact on the formation of your aesthetic sensibility. As I read your poems, I am almost inclined to…
Afterglow
Afterglow A. Van Jordan (bio) af*ter*glow \ \ n. 1. The light esp. in the Ohio sky after sunset: as in the look of the mother-of-pearl air during the morning's afterglow. 2. The glow continuing after the disappearance of a flame, as of a match or a lover, and sometimes regarded as a type of phosphorescent ghost: This balm, this bath of light / This cocktail of lust and sorrow, /This rumor of faithless love on a neighbor's lips, / This Monday morn…
Red Ball Express
Red Ball Express A. Van Jordan (bio) August 25 - November 16, 1944 Just now a silence grows too loud to ignore and I move out into the near-dark darkness, which, these days, has become my daylight, driving a 2.5 ton battalion truck to Red Ball depots to pick up gasoline and ammunition, then, ferrying them back to the 225th's positions through land mines hiding beneath our wheels and past German eyes, which illuminate the trees. This is the hell I…
Regina Brown Hears Voices, Kills Son Week Before Christmas, December 18, 1996
Sylvester, my eight-year-old son, lives in sin. I tell his grandmother—his father's mother, mind you— and she asks me what I'm talking about, like she can't hear me. She says, 'Regina, he's eight years old. What are you talking about?' When I told her I'd take care of it, she, once again, asked, 'Regina, what are you talking about?' * I watch Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, but I keep the sound on mute: the voices speak through him. It's getting wo…
Question
A. Van Jordan lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where he teaches at Warren Wilson College. Rise, his first book of poems, will be published in 2001 by Tia Chucha Press of Chicago
Rise
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Rise
Question
A. Van Jordan lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where he teaches at Warren Wilson College. Rise, his first book of poems, will be published in 2001 by Tia Chucha Press of Chicago
Rope
Rope A. Van Jordan (bio) Mrs. Alberta Cox As if two girls were starting a fire On all sides of my daughter, She is set ablaze: the girls swing Two clotheslines between them As if they were goddesses Holding two country roads Leading to each other; neighbors Surround her syncopated dance As her seizure of heat begins To flicker on the moonlit sidewalk— Now, the ropes are white hot— Her hair ignites in the upswing; her barrettes, Like petrified but…
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" A. Van Jordan (bio) September 12, 1976 INTERIOR—NIGHT—Panning shot of MACNOLIA's bedroom on her death bed. The melody seeps through her room Like a bad man's walk, something sexy In one step, something sinister In the other. The bed's bones creak as Death slips under the sheets. Nightstands At either side of her headboard hold Her combs, while the sun cries mercy At 7pm. She looks up scared From her book's curled, yellow pag…
The Poem is Smarter Than The Poet: An Interview with A. Van Jordan
A. Van Jordan. Photo by Carla Fielder. [End Page 908] This interview was conducted on June 8, 2004, by telephone between College Station, Texas, and Greensboro, North Carolina, where A. Van Jordan, an Ohio native, lives. ROWELL: When I pick up Rise, your first book of poems, I am first struck by your love of music. Music has apparently had a major impact on the formation of your aesthetic sensibility. As I read your poems, I am almost inclined to…
Afterglow
Afterglow A. Van Jordan (bio) af*ter*glow \ \ n. 1. The light esp. in the Ohio sky after sunset: as in the look of the mother-of-pearl air during the morning's afterglow. 2. The glow continuing after the disappearance of a flame, as of a match or a lover, and sometimes regarded as a type of phosphorescent ghost: This balm, this bath of light / This cocktail of lust and sorrow, /This rumor of faithless love on a neighbor's lips, / This Monday morn…
Red Ball Express
Red Ball Express A. Van Jordan (bio) August 25 - November 16, 1944 Just now a silence grows too loud to ignore and I move out into the near-dark darkness, which, these days, has become my daylight, driving a 2.5 ton battalion truck to Red Ball depots to pick up gasoline and ammunition, then, ferrying them back to the 225th's positions through land mines hiding beneath our wheels and past German eyes, which illuminate the trees. This is the hell I…
Regina Brown Hears Voices, Kills Son Week Before Christmas, December 18, 1996
Sylvester, my eight-year-old son, lives in sin. I tell his grandmother—his father's mother, mind you— and she asks me what I'm talking about, like she can't hear me. She says, 'Regina, he's eight years old. What are you talking about?' When I told her I'd take care of it, she, once again, asked, 'Regina, what are you talking about?' * I watch Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, but I keep the sound on mute: the voices speak through him. It's getting wo…
From Thought Clouds
Killer of Sheep
Killer of Sheep* A. Van Jordan (bio) Men with the gentlest hands, men with boys at home, with wives to love, get up every day and work in the slaughterhouse, draining the blood out of themselves just to make an honest case for their misery. And it’s beautiful to behold endurance in the worker who knows love motivates more than money. Sometimes a knee above a shaven calf on a woman, the thought of his finger making circles on her knee, while she s…
Rififi
Rififi* A. Van Jordan (bio) They take as men are wont to do—with zeal, like men who want more from the world, which sounds like a noble endeavor, but when they plan, their plans involve hurting others, if necessary, like men will do when they desire and every building, every storefront window, every locked door, every vault with jewels, even an open door, or a cop on a beat watching a building, forms a means to an end. The entire world fills with…
M
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes* A. Van Jordan (bio) Through the silence, the shoes are a night without someone to share a bed with, though a storm builds outside the bedroom window. Naked is her body without her red shoes; red is the sky in the dream of the shoes at her feet. A woman is a woman without red shoes laced on her arched feet, but the shoes dance whether she laces them up or not. The woman who is not a dancer will dance once she laces the shoes on her …
Bearden's "Realm of Shades", and: Aerial View: Jackson State College
Bearden’s “Realm of Shades”, and: Aerial View: Jackson State College A. Van Jordan (bio) BEARDEN’S “REALM OF SHADES” To hold on to the memories of home,the haunting memories, the ones that came to him even as a child,before there were memories to forget, Odysseus would try to forget their omenof violence, poverty, and unemployment before they took root within him;he set sail for lands unknown, leaving home in his mind, dreaming,knowing there was …
Langston Hughes Makes a Scene the Way a Jazz Musician Plays a Solo
Langston Hughes's understanding of both associative language patterning and the development of scene within his poems shows a keen sense not only of his understanding of the African American iconography he drew from but also of his commitment to represent it on the page. It's not news that Hughes was a “race man,” but it's increasingly important to observe how he used racial referents in the crafting of his poems. Over time, Hughes's poems have b…
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