Alone On The Basketball Court
It’s not that I’m selfish—I love
my teammates, even love those
I play against, especially when in my swagger
I pump in shots that leave them dumbstruck.
But in the early evening now, the tall buildings
bending over me like Abdul-Jabbar, I settle in
to a perfect loneliness, pounding the ball
on the concrete before every move, slipping
through the air with sweat and a beautiful precision.
The last birds of daylight fly from the chain-link
fence, a few lights slowly coming on in the city,
a string of shots I bury, beating the first star home.
Where They Are
The sun is out early, a soft blaze—
a cooling breeze accompanying it
has made sure of that
and I want to be outside with my friends
who are gone, but this poem
can’t conjure such magic.
I decide to have lunch in the courtyard
surrounded by new buildings rising,
a few old ones resurrected to modern
standards, a painter’s blue on the sky’s
canvas—if only I had the talent
to put the brush to such use. On my walk
later in the park a green balloon
attached to a short string is tangled
in the branches of a tree—it breaks free
and floats off to the river with me
following behind, trying to keep up,
reaching for the string as if it were possible.
Waiting For The Boat
The dot on the ocean is getting bigger,
it’s coming. I shuffle my feet, a shy dance.
My suitcase, like the dog I once had,
is right by my side. I’ve packed some clothes,
a few books and a coat for any season.
I don’t know where I’m going beyond a clue
or two, which is usually the case. More
and more people arrive, mill about the shore.
They seem as anxious but prepared as I am.
I wonder what books they have nestled
on top of a dear dress, a sturdy pair of pants.
Tim Suermondt’s sixth full-length book of poems A Doughnut And The Great Beauty Of The World came out in 2023 from MadHat Press. He has published in Poetry, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Stand Magazine, Smartish Pace, The Fortnightly Review, Poet Lore, Plume and Hole in the Head Review, among many others. He lives in Cambridge (MA) with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.