Damnable Puppets

By Aholaah Arzah

We prefer to refer to our clients as participants
because the word participant implies a measure of willing cooperation
as in she was a willing participant he was a willing participant
this is essential to the ideological tenants we like to espouse
as well as a serviceable interpretation of state regulations and agency guidelines particularly when willingness or degree of willingness is indeterminable
either because the participant will tend to agree with any of the caretaker’s suggestions
yes, yes, yes or because the participant will tend to disagree with any of the caretaker’s suggestions no no no

Some of them went to sleep that is to say they went elsewhere they went encephalitic consciousness subconscious self all that bramble packed its colorful plastic totes left the sorry tenement body bag most of us refused to believe that the virus had spared their facilities because we found the alternative unthinkable some of them were left though in semblance some of those required facilitation unfortunately you cannot choose to exceed biological restraints except by artificial means mechanical endeavors however one of the few jobs readily available was strings operator

Many people went begging for string operators life-like puppets hands attached to a seated puppet resulting in eerily life-like movements that mimic see how they mimic my every move see how they allure me to move them about in the community ease this one over the cracks in the sidewalk the other through a doorway I purvey I laugh at the funny bits to indicate humor they laugh also

Listen to her absorb fragments overheard conversations repeats these fragments the fragments become adulterated she repeats the adulterated phrases it begins to seem as though she has personally experienced other people other experiences she becomes part of the collective adulteration whole he says count she hears clone

At fifty she starts channeling a male Jewish comedian her legs bow silver streaks her short Semitic curls the voice cannot cease its narrative says hi says thanks buddy says hi says thanks buddy tells a joke the girl is named cat she lives with two cats she was in there talking all the books off the shelf why did the girl the other why the we are going to join the side of the street the audience asks was there a chicken involved in this story she says no says no chicken says hi says thanks buddy thrusts out a coarse hand swollen hand chapped spiked half attached flakes of dry skin picks at these when she talks stares at the parched land of her own palm stares at the ooze between cracks offers this up buffets your palm abrades the space between can’t tolerate contact can’t tolerate clench has been taught to wave says hi says thanks buddy