Sideshow Specters
CARNIVAL OF ART & MAGIC | May 18—20, 2018 | Mission Inn, Riverside, CA
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We had a great time meeting each and everyone of you.
THE COLD CALLER
Peg waited and waited for a suitor to call,
found next to the phone
starved to death in the hall.
THE MUSIC LOVER
Lillian often mistook her phonograph for a flower.
Her father mistook her record for a target.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE
Siren made it home
to her loving mate's foul breath.
Some fates in life are so much worse
than injury or death.
THE DAME IN DEBT
Mildred made a deal with the devil—
quite the unfortunate debtor.
Sometimes death is so much better.
THE DANCING GIRL
Carlotta would dance night after night,
until one of her partners held her much too tight.
HERO IN A HAT
Ticker tape, a hero's welcome,
for those he wasn't looking...
A feast ensued, he choked to death,
a victim of questionable cooking.
THE FLAPPERS
Elsa and Isla shared everything
from the latest fashions
to the tangled sheets
that robbed their breath.
THE SWINGING MAGICIAN
Justine's illusions made the children laugh,
until she sawed herself in half.
THE LOBSTER BOY
Cornelius ate his lobsters raw,
until ripped apart by a giant claw.
THE BLUE BOY
Calvin complained
that his neckerchief was too tight,
but mother insisted he looked best in blue.
THE TEA DRINKER
Krista drank gallons of tea
but waited too long
before she went pee.
THE TODDLERS
Sean and Amy loved hide and seek,
but in the end
they weren't found for a week.
THE ZEBRA'S FAN
Carly, by accident,
gave her pet zebra a scare.
Answered back by a kick
that sent her into the air.
THE LITTLE SAILOR GIRL
Have you ever seen Katie from France?
On the deck of a boat she would dance.
Climbed a mast on a lark,
now she's chum for the sharks,
'cause the waves made the girl disembark.
THE TREE CLIMBER
Sissy loved to climb trees,
and though she was surefooted,
the boughs were shot
with all kinds of rot.
THE SEA'S BELOVED
Monica's heel was not properly glued.
She fell overboard and now she's fish food.
THE HARLOT
Diane got around
breaking up more than one marriage,
dragged to death in her furs
that were tied to a carriage.
THE BELL BOY
Vincent liked to stack bags real high,
'til the cart toppled causing him to die.
THE CROW KEEPER
Mortimer was spooky as everyone knows,
and was pecked to death by his murder of crows.
THE GIRL WITH THE CAMERA
Felicity was obsessed with soft auto focus.
Her concerns should have leaned toward the oncoming locusts.
A pile of dead carcass, she's out of commission.
A perfect example of decomposition.
THE SITTER
Thaddeus was a very sharp dresser,
but his chair was even sharper.
THE CIRCUS CLOWN
Otto was suave and debonair.
Otto was mauled by dancing bears.
Otto's demeanor had upscale elegance.
Until he was trampled by circus elephants.
Not the most handsome clown in the bunch,
the circus lions had him for lunch.
THE FAN DANCER
May and her fan
would steal the stage,
until jealousy stole
her life in a rage.
THE MAN WITH THE CLOCK
Sully thought his clock had stopped.
But in the end, his time was simply up.
THE MUSICIAN
Some people said Jacob sold his soul
to play that horn the way he did.
Others knew the Devil would have it anyway.
THE GRINNING CLOWN
Patches loved children,
boiled or fried.
HOOP GIRL
Harper made her living
twirling a hoop.
Harper made her dying
choking on soup.
THE SNAKE CHARMER
People accused Edna
of smothering her boa,
although the snake's
affections proved mutual.
THE LADY
If Victoria had friends,
they would boast that she could navigate any storm.
But hers was a quite wake.
THE WOLF MAN
Elliot was a world-wide sensation.
His facial hair such nice insulation.
He died in his sleep with much pain felt.
Tracked down by poachers,
and skinned for his pelt.
THE GAL WITH THE GAMS
Matilda was a feast for the eyes,
until jackals feasted on her thighs.
THE COSTUMED GENTLEMEN
Herbert and Eddie played rabbit and beaver
until they came down with scarlet fever.
THE LITTLE LIONESS
Harriett adored her cub,
and the little lioness relished Harriett's heart even more.
THE TRUE FRIEND
Duke was a dog who was loyal as hell.
When his master froze, Duke froze as well..
THE SHARPSHOOTER
Forty paces out,
he could douse a candle’s wick,
but Jesse was most famous for
his bouncing-bullet trick.
You’d have missed it if you blinked,
the feat came loud and hot.
Target snuffed, the lead returned…
a once in a death-time shot.
THE CANDLE BEARER
Lydia entranced by the flickering light,
payed little attention to the staircase that night.
THE CONTORTIONIST
Suzette dreamed of bending her spine like a rope.
One evening the Strongman answered her hope.
THE SALUTING SISTERS
A man came between Glenda and Barbara.
But before either of them could stake a claim,
he had stakes for them both.
THE NURSE
Gertrude kew many ways to dull the pain,
but treated her own by opening a vein.
THE KITTY
Silvia enjoyed dressing up like a cat,
but when the fire roared
she proved to have far fewer than nine lives.
THE FEATHERED LADY
Cynthia fanned flames that left hearts in ashes.
Theater lamps set her ablaze with fiery,
feathered flashes.
THE FISHERWOMAN
Willow loved to fish,
but her shark was not quite as caught,
as she had thought.
THE GANGSTER
Joel was decent at cards.
A shame he was awful at cheating.
THE HUNTER
Buster boasted he could drop any grizzly
from a hundred yards.
Cougars were another story.
THE INSUFFERABLE WOMAN
Mona often cried
wolf, lion or bear.
When the threat was real,
they just didn't care.
MAN WITH A GUN
Ziggy from the circus
was the best shot in the place—
Until his favorite rusty rifle
backfired in his face.
THE BUNNY BOY
Those cold dead eyes,
that haunting stance,
the rabbits didn't have a chance.
THE BRIDE
Daisy thought she would die an old maid,
but she lives to see her wedding day.