Epiphany Party

               …maybe that star of Bethlehem
               wasn’t a star at all.
                         -Neil Young


What about the backlit thing
you never suddenly realized,

how you love
the after as much, limp

salad nibbled
from your man’s greasy fingers, last

half can of Mexican beer crusted
with salt, the evidence of which

chair was a child’s table, white icing
peaked in sweet stalagmites or the divine

manifestation of a single
red mitten on the porch step, empty

manger scene, dozens of shepherd bathrobes
sagging back home on their hooks.

All night small mouths counted
backwards, ready or not, and now

we’re left with their echo
of here I come and wow

your house has so many
good places to hide.

Jenny Browne

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