Amy Lowell Prize Honorable Mention, selected by Mary Buchinger
Afterword
When I have rolled the world into a ball,
Chased the moon from sickle to circle round,
Harvested silence before the wave falls,
Read Denebola in Leo as sound,
Stolen perfume from the flowers’ spilled smell,
Tasted the wind below the Cliffs of Mohr,
Stopped beneath a cross on some holy hill,
Blessed your name within the cannon’s roar,
Run by Nausicaa beside the wine-dark sea,
Sent signals up I wished to be alone,
Ordered Chopin’s Cello Etude to be
Delivered when I was never at home,
Lit two white candles for your kiss, your kiss
That would unroll as grass beneath my feet,
The waxing moon hid in an ether wisp
Of cloud, the sea returning to its retreat
Over the dampened sand unremembered,
Stars of direction fading in the light,
Spring’s earliest blossoms now dissembled
The earth is whirling ever out of sight.
Philip Burnham, long-time New England Poetry Club member and winner of several NEPC poetry awards, passed away at his home on June 13, 2018, after a long illness. Philip was the author of A Careful Scattering as well as five other volumes of poetry. A posthumous collection is forthcoming. Philip was a member of the Bagel Bards and a dear friend to many poets.