About Norman Jordan’s recent book, and his free poetry workshops on second Saturdays of the month in Malden: Jordan’s book “Where Do People in Dreams Come From? & Other Poems” features different times of his life, including poems and photographs which you could not find elsewhere. The book is well worth buying; you get the feeling you’ve connected with a rare and real person. An old teacher of mine told me once that it seems we study everything in schools except people, and that we need to study people around us more closely. The people to pay close attention to, my teacher cautioned, are the ones who have something to impart to you that they could not have learned in any ordinary way. Jordan seems to be one of those unusual people.

A few other things you may or may not know about him: He’s one of the most-published Appalachian poets — he’s featured in the West Virginia Literary Map. For years he directed the youth camp at Camp Washington-Carver for Culture and History. A leading poet for decades, he used the pseudonym Peterr Jesus for a long time, back when I first heard of him. He’s taught at WVU and elsewhere, and he has a gentle demeanor and a good sense of humor.

Here are two of Jordan’s poems, reprinted with permission:

HOW TO SPROUT A POEM
by Norman Jordan

First place
About seven
Tablespoons of words
In a gallon jar

Cover the words
With liquid ideas
And let soak overnight

The following morning
Pour off the old ideas
And rinse
The words with fresh thoughts
Tilt the jar upsidedown
In a corner
And let it drain

Continue rinsing daily
Until a poem forms

Last, place the poem
In the sunlight
So it can take on
The color of life.

1982

ONE FOR ALL
by Norman Jordan

What we
Give
Our children
Let us
Envision
It be given
To all children

What we
Desire
Let us
Desire
For our
Sisters and brothers also

Let us be brothers and Sisters
And
Mothers and fathers
Of each
Other
And let not
One of us be
Brotherless or sisterless
Or
Motherless or fatherless

Let us
Eat
Sleep and live
As one

And
If a person
Comes to bless
Or hurt me
Let them
Meet
Us all.

Jordan’s new poetry workshop in Malden was snowed out last weekend, but the weather will likely be fine for the next one on April 12.

Here’s a link to a previous post, an e-mail, about the free, adults-only workshop.

I called Jordan Tuesday to express my regrets at not being able to attend during the snowstorm. We had a good conversation I condensed to about five minutes. We talked about poetry workshops, his famous contemporaries, his African American Heritage Family Tree Museum, which is now in Malden. I asked about his son 6 6 240, his wife Brucella, who is a history department chairman at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. Last of all we get some sense of how he writes poems; he seems to collect images and sculpt and arrange and polish. Enjoy the poems and the interview, and maybe we will see you at the next workshop in Malden.

6:12 minutes

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