Off Sabine Pass

Milton Jordan

July 28, 2024

Two refugee sisters opened their shop 

at Tenth and Lakeway selling the catch 

their father, brother, and both husbands 

brought in evenings from a day on the Gulf,

displayed the next in their Fresh Catch coolers,

marked half-price in another for a second,

as third-day remainders for their own families

fresher yet than supermarket specials.

You and I had the Thursday morning habit 

of selecting from second-day items,

often crab, maybe flounder, seldom shrimp

or redfish, for our Cajun recipe 

spicy gumbo we enjoyed Fridays

with leftovers for the weekend.

Milton Jordan lives with Anne in Georgetown, Texas. He co-edited the first Texas Poetry Assignment anthology, Lone Star Poetry, Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022. Anne and Milton lived in Port Arthur for a few years in the 1990s.