in the season of epiphany

1

the Christmas CD

on its last song

the tree is being unwound

my wife, packing, smiles at the way

this year

my daughter learned the art

of holiday disc jockey

the precise, childish bliss of it

there's something in these things being newspapered

for attic-bound bins

from which they'll come again

2

the tree like winter remainder

undressed in hard sap

trailing needles to the alley

the wind has picked up

its cold for real

3

firmly i plant the tree

in the gobs of icy white

upright

like a living thing

like memory

these needles shiver down

defiant green halo on the snow

4

dry Tannenbaum unchanging cut

left by the garbage bin

this is the season

we need something unexpected