Tim Suermondt, The World Doesn't Know You, Pinyon Publishing 2017

Offcourse featured Tim Suermondt's poems in Issue #69, in #64, #60 and #51, but we had none of the poems that are in this, his latest book, so you all have a great reason to go get it.  Just to whet the appetite:

All the Answers

Van Gogh painted many sunflowers
with petals browning on top and along the sides.
Experts contend he did this to show how the beautiful,
like all things, doesn't last and dies.
Possibly, but I bet he painted them that way
because he could and because he liked to, enjoying
giving them some attention, snazzy
in the rapid mingling of light and shadow
when the first strokes struck the canvas, being as happy
as any man who would shoot himself could be.

When Nothing Will Do

Nothing but lying on the couch —
which I do, enjoying the sunlight
stabbing
through the sheer living room curtains.
From here I can wander anywhere —
Paris, or Paramus if need be.
A mizzle, lighter than Fall's leaves,
drops on my head and the generous world
equally.

 

Happy reading!