Celebration

Milton Jordan

October 29, 2023

We saw in Sunday’s society pages 

photos of two women with bright smiles

flanked by family and friends from the church

they’d attended together for years,

with two robed clergy guiding their vows

no longer threatened with harsh charges

and possible detention for fulfilling

the responsibilities of their orders.

In other jurisdictions, perhaps Maine

or Massachusetts, these photos might bring

smiles of gratitude, a joy remembered,

but here, from forests along the Neches

to the staked plain above the Brazos breaks,

those bright smiles ring in a double celebration.

Milton Jordan lives with Anne in Georgetown, Texas. He co-edited the first Texas Poetry Assignment anthology, Lone Star Poetry, Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022.