Poem for Haruko

June Jordan’s “Poem for Haruko” is composed of 29 lines of unrhymed free verse, organized in three stanzas of nine lines of varying length and one final couplet (a stanza consisting of two lines). While there is no formal pattern of rhyme and meter in the love poem, elements of prosody—or patterns of rhythm and sound—add significantly to the music of the poem.

The use of dactyls, or poetic feet that follow a pattern of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, lend what is known as a descending or falling rhythm to certain lines. For example, the word “hap-pi-ness” (Line 2) follows a dactylic pattern, starting strong on the first syllable and following up with two softer, or unstressed, syllables. Another example of the use of dactyls and falling rhythm occurs with “lu-mi- nous, like par-ti-cles” (Line 8).

While most poems written in free verse will employ a variety of rhythmic elements, falling rhythms in “Poem for Haruko” underscore the elegiac mood associated with regret.