the market carol
the season's damp shoulders
shrug and jingle
before the door
where a pot dangles
temporary
changeful
traffic by and by
the carts clustered shepherds
nosing the curbs
what night
what night is this
wrapped in a muffler
stamping slapping
chill
a tinny gloria
on high
and only one angel
her lips cracked
blesses loose silver
a bus token a folded
single a broken
charm o little town
o deepest
night
jil hanifan is Director of the Writing Center at the University at Albany. She's the author of the chapbook whethergirl: the wind rose, and her poems have appeared in the Comstock Review, Heaven Bone, Little Magazine, Snail's Pace Review, and 13th Moon, among others, and online in AlbanyPoets.com. contact
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