Almost a Dozen

that's what Tom brought in a cardboard carton
last dinnertime, on the eve of St. Nick's Feast
Only a couple a day in these long dark days
before Nativity, in the mid-fast, with so little meat in the mash
that the sleepy cold hens lazily squat and drop
half an egg a day on average
if that is possible, but this is winter and our first year
scrambling up this experiment of city chickens.