poet tim suermondt

Gulls Flying Over the Construction Site by Tim Suermondt
gulls
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Gulls Flying Over the Construction Site
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Like stealth bombers that are suddenly upon you—
there they are. They can’t be looking for anything useful
in this wide junkyard scattered with rocks and cement,
lifts and trucks, workers going at it with fervor
like the Egyptians of old. The gulls might simply be having
a momentary madness, flying for the sake of flying,
coming close but miraculously avoiding collisions among
themselves. We’ve done this too in our own way,
usually keeping the scurrying and any craziness planted
on the ground, doing occasional damage along with wonderful
things. The gulls don’t stay long, it’s back to the rivers
and the beaches, and I turn from the window and head
into another room, my shadow flapping on the white walls.
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tim
Tim Suermondt is the author of five full-length collections of poems, the latest JOSEPHINE BAKER SWIMMING POOL  from MadHat Press, 2019. He has published in Poetry, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Stand Magazine, december magazine, and Plume, among many others. He lives in Cambridge (MA) with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.
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America by Tim Suermondt
America
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  AMERICA
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In my dream I tell Sartre I didn’t like
the way he treated Camus.
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He removes his glasses and in an almost
whisper says “I’m sorry.”
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“That’s good enough for me,” I say
and we walk down St. Germain-des-Pres
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like old comrades on a beautiful day.
He puffs on his pipe and says “I love
.
Americans,” a half smile sincerely made.
I don’t say a word but I remember
.
when the entire world would have agreed,
when the entire world would have celebrated.
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tim
Tim Suermondt is the author of four full-length collections of poems, the latest one THE WORLD DOESN’T KNOW YOU. His fifth collection JOSEPHINE BAKER SWIMMING POOL will be coming out from MadHat Press in January 2019. He has published in Poetry, Ploughshares, The Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, North of Oxford, Bellevue Literary Review and Plume, among many others. He lives in Cambridge with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.
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