SIDEKICK by Rikki Santer Sidekick you are monocle you are lap dancer you are cheeky sailor boy you are lamb chopped sock chocolate spell sideways glance from hell you are ghost terrorist shy ingenue personality in 60 seconds you are knuckle headed sitcom irony wicked ears like hovercrafts you are winker/blinker swiveled noggin snarky set-up nodder you are rod-armed foam-formed renegade raised eyebrows you are punchlines hiccupped baby cries twisted talk in twisted mouth you are pick up, put down, bend, slump, shake or shoe-shined ballast you are illusion delusion off-handed protrusion you are anything that can talk & you’ve got your eye on me Dummies from Cinema HellThorns nestle into furry eyebrows. Utterances muddy & frothy. These malcontentchupacabras lie in wait, the vent-doll’s recurring argument—who needs who?Begin in silence. Professor Echo’s Nemo in velvet-mouthed intertitles, thrown voicesbeget criminal acts. With caviar and lobster, The Great Gabbo stuffs his German mouth,while Otto hurls one-sided banter, his smashed face the end of ruse. Tables turn for The Great Vorelli,strident & demonic, he doesn’t know how to be nice to his toys, so irony stirs the old switcheroo—boss into blockhead. Mr. Scarface yearns to be master of Gotham & gangster bullets, his poplar handsquiver to get the gold. Mr. Fats of sour harmonica, matching sweaters, fresh slaughter, & he wants you to havehis wooden heart. Behold these vigilante antagonists, dead hummingbirds lodged into their jaws—when they escape foreign hands forced up their asses, their bloody jungles glisten with triumphant trajectories of id. Junior Open Mic at the International Vent Haven Ventriloquist ConventionLimbs lie limp in nervous laps waiting to defy gravity. Throatstremble to animate bodies into birdsongs of delight & Delphic vapors. Mouths poplike zippers, launch trajectories from dummy thrones, this parliamentof apprentices not yet ruptured or repaired. Timid punchlines ripple like flags creepingup their poles—operatic duets, twirling guffaws. Goateed rocker enters stage rightin his mini motorcycle, cotton candy princess shuns her master—You’re just jealous of myswag. We wish them legacy of spotlight, green light in critique. The stage is kind tonight. About the Author:Rikki Santer’s work has appeared in various publications including Ms. Magazine, Poetry East, Margie, Slab, Crab Orchard Review, RHINO, Grimm, Slipstream, Midwest Review and The Main Street Rag. Her fifth poetry collection, Make Me That Happy, was published recently by NightBallet Press. |