Highway Nights

Milton Jordan

August 6, 2023

Oncoming traffic forced by unexpected 

construction into our lane for two miles

left us waiting past dusk for the pilot car

to lead us slowly through November’s darkness 

and you, nicely, refrained from comment 

on my attraction to old highways.

We saw only isolated farmhouse lights

through thin curtain kitchen windows along 

the narrow Shelby County roadside 

and a limited distance down the road,

but found our favorite City Diner

open late in Center where we ate 

and called Mother to explain our delayed 

arrival well beyond being any help 

preparing tomorrow’s big dinner.

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