Not doing much but composing

a poem in my head—
which might be something
if the poem is consummated,
turning out to be good.

Sunlight steps easy on the water
all the way to Quay Bercy
and a new first line—that’s better.
Lush, green leaves on the trees,

a cat chases plump birds,
a couple on the roof of a houseboat
kiss and a new second line—better yet.
The whole world mellow, it too

being exhausted by the endless dramas,
most of them being our fault,
even the good left gasping for air,
a small café called justice that never closes

calling like the siren’s sweetness
and the third line keeping the progress going—
better and better, a minor masterpiece
has an excellent chance of being born.

Tim Suermondt’s sixth full-length book of poems A Doughnut And The Great Beauty Of The World will be forthcoming from MadHat Press in 2021. He has published in Poetry, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Visitant, Stand Magazine, december magazine, On the Seawall, Poet Lore and Plume, among many others. He lives in Cambridge (MA) with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.