Simple Maneuver & Same Country by Michael Igoe

Simple Maneuver

I prize recent listings 
of what they dish out.
The upstart goodtimers, 
young whippersnappers; 
who lose in sorry nocturnes,
wearing an electric blue suit.
I have a formula 
for dizzy schemes 
when it’s raining.
I will spread eagle 
in a pile of branches.
I sponge my red scalp 
I am getting dressed,
like the grim sentries. 
I move with them 
in all due respect.​

Same Country

I sold stale fireworks, 
to a Jehovah’s Witness.
Eyes wide as saucers, 
t shirt and bare arms.
Nobody lives here, 
and nothing grows.
It’s from the impulse, 
to keep shades drawn.
My blood runs cold 
as the felon’s smile.
He takes advantage 
of the average man.
in the average sand.

Michael Igoe is a city boy,  a native of Chicago who now lives in Boston. He's an instructor at Boston University's Center For Psychiatric Rehabilitation.  He has numerous poems and short stories published online and in print.  He received The National Library Of Poetry Editor's Choice Award For Excellence in 1997. He's working on a novel entitled Venetian Blind. Twitter: MichaelIgoe5.