“The Hat Contemplates His Undoing” by J. M. Jordan


With a pop top,
a stutter step
and a shudder of thrill under string-lights;

a boot slide
and a buckle flash
in a chorus of pedal-steel nights;

my gun-grip hand,
your denim waist,
a waltz of sheer terror and awe;

the band roared
and so did you:
you had me at YEEHAW.


J. M. Jordan recently began writing again after a twenty-year hiatus. He is a Georgia native, a Virginia resident, and a homicide detective by profession.