The Dandies’ first Christmas in Peacock Lane was the year the decorations came to life / The elves were the first to turn against their homes & scale attached garages & chain linked fences / They chanted dark poetry from the wires around their mouths / Reindeer who used to stand atop the two story houses stalked up & down the street slashing tires with the spikes beneath their blinking hooves / Glass ornaments were thrown like grenades at windows & the golden stars that topped the trees & eaves cut into the side paneling & brownstone bricks like twine slicing through clay spinning on a wheel / Carolers who used to stand motionless in the front yards for all to see marched door to door ringing their bells / Servants of Hell came to Peacock Lane that Christmas wearing the neighborhood’s light like a shroud that granted them entry into the season / The Dandies donned their waistcoats & grabbed iron canes & fire pokers to lay to waste the gaudy decorations the way a child might swing a golf club for the first time / Reckless & free from worry / They knocked down the reindeer & beheaded the elves catching their breaths between the beatings / Santa stood at the end of the street watching The Dandies advance through his legion of sparkling minions twirling the filigree of his beard & mustache / The Dandies raised their weapons to strike him down but the iron in their hands turned to tinsel instead of striking / Santa reached for the whip he used to steer his sleigh / And was hit in the back of the head by the chairwoman of the decoration subcommittee who swung her bejeweled soda spritzer after The Dandies’ distraction.
Help the chairwoman clean the mess in the street
Invite the chairwoman inside for cocoa & toffee
RJ Equality Ingram works as a used bookseller for Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette. Their first collection of poetry The Autobiography of Nancy Drew is forthcoming from White Stag Publishing in early 2024. RJ received their MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College of California with concentrations in poetry & creative nonfiction. More work can be found in Phoebe Journal, Miniskirt Magazine & Citron Review among others. RJ’s cat Brenda lost a leg designing her memory palace.