Grandfather’s Monologues

Milton Jordan

November 12, 2023

Our grandchildren have heard and understood

experts explain intricate calculations 

required to send satellites into orbit

in galaxies long light years away.

Can we interest them in outlines of our  

favorite scenes when they’ve seen full-color 

images of the surface of distant 

planets snapped by robots controlled from Houston?

Will the tedium of oft-repeated 

stories hold their attention through these old

tales of rivers merging before the lake

covered them behind the Bureau’s high dam?

Can well-known descriptions of forests 

once dark with foreboding undergrowth

continue to entertain children 

whose hands hold the latest gaming devices?

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