Dream Hotel

The one I seem to check into twice a month,
greeting the desk clerk who never reciprocates.
I walk up the rickety stairs, suitcase and life in hand
and enter my room that makes bare bones sound
voluptuous. I prop a pillow against the wall, sprawl
out on the small bed and stare out the open window,
the air smelling sweet as chocolate covered almonds
and I watch images of people I’ve known but can
no longer place go by, until my mother and father,
young as the day I was born, appear briefly before
moving on. I take a chunk of bread and a book from
the suitcase, nibbling and reading throughout the night,
content with this feast I’ve prepared, sweeping the crumbs
off the pages, careful not to damage the extraordinary words.

Tim Suermondt is the author of Trying to Help the Elephant Man Dance (The Backwaters Press, 2007) and Just Beautiful (NYQ Books, 2010). He has published work in Poetry, The Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Bellevue Literary Review, Stand Magazine (UK), among others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.