Deflated After Christmas

I found Santa face-down in the neighbor’s lawn

the week after the holidays ended, his skin

wrinkled and slack, his joints detached, 

his face bent in half and staring blank

at the rain-kissed road. Nearby, a reindeer’s legs

ribboned like caramel drizzle, its antlers

flat, and a plump snowman melted

into an empty plastic puddle. Rain pelted

their slick skin on the drunk-lit evenings

too warm for snow, and eventually,

someone will come along and roll them up

like a wind-kissed tent canvas

and carry them into the cricket-haunted shed

until next Christmas nears.