Simulacrum
after Jean Baudrillard
Pursue the facsimile
of the attendance sign;
here you must join the line.
People in uniform will inform you
where to stand, how to sit,
when to scream
how to follow the rules.
When you pass this initial test,
you may indulge in, the real thing–
effects absolute, impervious,
to those outside these gates.
Martin Ferguson‘s poems have appeared in Stand, The French Literary Review, The HU, DREICH, The High Window, The Alchemy Spoon, International Times, among many others. His first pamphlet was published in 2019 by Original Plus. His second pamphlet, ‘Stone Age Howl’, won the 2023 DREICH Classic Pamphlet Competition.