Milton S. Jordan

This new selected poems from noted historian Milton Jordan leads readers into the beautiful Idaho wilderness to Slate Creek where, '...the mountain casts its first shadow'. Jordan's poems infuse life with nature, with 'sluggish gray beginnings' and the 'sound of Linda Ronstadt' on a Saturday full of 'miles of silence'. These tender, graceful, and profound moments where 'the sound of billiards played without talent' lingers on the dust that settles high in Lodgepole pine. Jordan's verse is well-crafted, compact, expertly weaving truths and discoveries, across the Ohio countryside, a world shuttling between narrative and lyric. These are the poems of living, of what we carry with us, of what the rivers gather.

East Texas is a distinct cultural and geographical region roughly the size of the state of Indiana. It is bounded on the east by the Sabine River and the state line, on the north by the Red River, and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico. The remaining boundary line is open to conjecture but is generally considered to represent the dispersed western limits of the Southern Pine Best. Those who have lived and worked in East Texas share a common sense of place that has provided some of the state’s more colourful characters and most enduring landmarks, as well as a richly-layered cultural history. The region has also produced a large number of historians and storytellers who have successfully drawn upon their diverse and unique heritage to chronicle the past. Just Between Us will be at one level the inside story of a large community, where all residents comfortably share somewhat familiar stories about home. It is also, however, a regional record for others to enjoy, analyse, and celebrate. The stories are firsthand accounts by those who know the region best, and they serve as glimpses onto life in the Pine Belt that to this point have not been recorded or widely shared. They are, for the most part, small stories that might not be found in general histories but that nevertheless collectively make a profound statement about the unique character of an important region.