Rewriting the Story

Milton Jordan

November 1, 2022

When half our students threatened uprising

after Me Too and Black Lives Matter

the department chair finally appointed

me to rewrite the years old syllabus

for our introductory state history course.

Me, retired five years and covering classes

for faculty slots unfilled due to budget

shortfall and limited donor response.

I had, admittedly, complained for years:

This course reads like a praise poem for rugged

white men from Missouri who conquered

the wilderness as well as the local folk

who’d long made this wild country their home.

Some topics on slaves and their descendants

and a brief assignment on women

are as inadequate as endnote suggestions

recommending readings on families 

named Nunez or Hinojosa.

Milton Jordan lives with Anne in Georgetown, Texas. His most recent poetry collection is A Forest for the Trees from Backroom Window Press, 2022.