The aspirations of man are simpler—
a plate of fruit, a bottle of wine
and my wife about to cook a chef’s
dinner from disparate items found
hiding out in the cupboard, the older
refrigerator, not unhappy to be plucked
for a necessary cause. The last rays
of today’s sunlight spread like frosting,
dissolving into the early arrival of dusk,
the plates, glasses and utensils ready
for some action and it won’t be long—
I’m learning to slice and dice with hope.
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, On the Seawall, Qu, Poet Lore and Plume, among many others. He lives in Cambridge (MA) with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.
