Nazareth

Milton Jordan

December 7, 2025

The preacher set his Thursday pulpit

on the corner opposite the waitress

staring midmorning through her window

lettered Open Daily Until Three 

where two roads going nowhere much larger

cross beneath a light blinking stop both ways

slowing a driver enough to notice 

the preacher begin his weekly theme, 

You have forgotten why your grandfathers 

named our town. You have forgotten Jesus.

and the waitress waiting at her window

for a few of the preacher’s listeners

to cross the street for pie and coffee,

the driver for directions and early lunch.

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