Description
- Kind: Perfectbound
- Pages: 106
- Language: English
- Date Published: December 2025
- ISBN 978-1-962847-42-1
Praise
The speaker of Tim Suermondt’s magical book of poems, A Day in the Republic, is an optimist. “In my study I am working on a poem about irretrievable loss,” he tells us, “ but I can’t get it written, the poem becoming/more hopeful and gentle with every line.” I am so grateful for these poems which celebrate the beauty of a moon, doing nothing, and a magician pulling nothing out of his hat. —Faith Shearin, author of The Owl Question and Lost Language
“Obviously, this poem isn’t about me,” begins “The Great Artist”, one of my favorite Tim Suermondt poems. “Though of course it will be.” And now that he has a new book, A Day in the Republic, who am I to disagree? —Lloyd Schwartz, author of Who’s on First? New and Selected poems
Tim Suermondt’s A Day in the Republic is comprised of brief meditations on the quotidian by a companionable and empathetic poet who embraces life with a bear hug. “Short poems can be scattered/easily,” he asserts, “but cover more territory.” You’ll find here wry humor mellowed with sweetness and throughout this collection a generous appreciation for his fellow creatures human and otherwise. Whether the subject is love for his wife, caring for an aged father, a homeless man on the street offering a ragged umbrella, or a tough veteran with a Purple heart and a Bronze Star who bawled for days when his wife left him, his touch is never sentimental or ponderous. “A little girl by a statue half covered in grime/is dressed as an angel/her mother trying to fix/a wing that fell.” A diet of Suermondt poems doesn’t make for heavy meals, but instead offers a menu of satisfying soufflés you’ll be eager to sample, again and again. —Mark Pawlak, author of ‘Away’ Away
Excerpt
SIMPLICITY
It’s what we all want,
even for those writers who would rather
jump off a tall building
than admit that truth. Reams of complexity,
the kind that makes the poor reader’s
eyes glaze over quickly, can always find
an enabler to tell you its brilliance,
but one gooey word in a work that claims
simplicity can bring the whole edifice down.
My simplicity, such as it is, is like a dinghy
on a sea of battleships and aircraft carriers.
I float unencumbered by guns and planes,
no need for enablers of any kind. The vastly
more dangerous route suits me just fine.
Author
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, Barrow Street, Amsterdam Review and Plume, among many others. He lives in Cambridge (MA) with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.