E.E. Cummings Prize Honorable Mention, selected by Susan Donnelly
watch the stars that tremble with love and with hope
“All you need…
two wooden spoons and a pan.”
Though some had a violin, a cello, a flute.
Some had arias in their bones.
Others couldn’t carry a tune.
Every evening, everyone sang from their balconies,
even though Italy was dying—
guardi le stelle che tremano d’amore e di speranza.
—casket after casket lined the aisles of St Joseph’s,
the priests blessing, the bells tolling.
Everyone with breath sang to ward off the dark.
Alice Kociemba, responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, wrote watch the stars that tremble with love and with hope as an ode to human resilience. She is the author of Bourne Bridge (Turning Point, 2016) and is the founding director of Calliope Poetry for Community. Alice was guest editor of Common Threads (2015 & 2016), the poetry discussion project of Mass Poetry. She is currently co-editing the poetry anthology, From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands Through Poetry, which will be published by Bass River Press in 2021. Alice lives in North Falmouth with her husband, Rich Youmans.