In Memoriam: Martin Luther King, Jr." is a tribute poem by June Jordan.

In the first stanza of this poem Jordan

creates a violent atmosphere of terror and destruction. Through lines like, "the milkland turn to monsters teach to kill
to violate pull down destroy", the author shows us images of destruction and chaos. All this violent scenes lead us to the
word "America", which makes the readers believe that America has encouraged violence instead of stopping it. In the second
stanza readers are met with an even longer description of terrifying events. This list of atrocities is interrupted the moment the
author writes "STOP" to stop the feeling of depression and the unjust memories, marking the end of the first section of the poem.
In beginning of the second section of this poem Jordan shifts into a calmer state. In the first stanza she creates a feeling of
peace through the line, "They sleep who know a regulated place or pulse or tide or changing sky". This feeling is quickly
reversed when the author uses a simile to suggest that the privileges of this sleep are "according to some universal stage
direction obvious like shorewashed shells". In the second stanza of the poem, the author states that " We share an afternoon of
mourning in between no next predictable". This leads us to the end of the poem which brings us back to the violence in the
beginning.