by Joel Robert Ferguson

in an effort to reduce cost
to save you money
to live better
to promote moral hygiene
to clean up the streets
to follow through on an initiative from head office
to bring home the bacon
to give our marriage one last chance
to buy little Johnnie/Susie new football/dancing shoes
to appease a jealous god
to act out our Charles Bronson dreams
to live out our Charles Manson nightmares
to wipe you out, motherfucker
to pretend it is still the twentieth century
to be able to say we lived our lives to the full
shoplifters will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law

Thank You

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Joel Robert Ferguson is a poet of working-class settler origins who lives in Winnipeg, Treaty One Territory. He was awarded the Lansdowne Prize for The Lost Cafeteria, his debut poetry collection, and his writing has recently appeared in The Columbia Review, Prairie Fire, Queen’s Quarterly, Qwerty, and Riddle Fence.

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