And we’re off!

Later today (Yes! April Fool’s Day, 2026) the Artemis II NASA mission will blast off and spend the next 10 days exploring, from the confines of an Orion rocketship, the lunar surface. Special attention will be given to the moon’s south pole. The moon has caught human attention and set us dreaming since before we invented words and ways to write them down. This morning, I am pondering the connections between “Art” and “Artemis”, between “Lunar” and just plain “Loony”. (I am a proud transplant to the Loon State.)

My own launch into the April 2026 Poem-a-Day Challenge has begun this morning with the penning of my shiny new quartet of couplets, “Liftoff.” As I know from the past ten Aprils of striving, on some mornings the goal reaching a poem to share seems farther and more far-fetched than traveling to the moon–quite beyond reach. And yet, with persistence, something is brought into focus on the page.

As most of you know, I share each April day’s poem via email. (If you would like to receive the poem in your inbox and aren’t, let me know and I will add you to the April Poems list.)

If you would like to read other poems composed in the moment this month, do check out the mother ship, the NaPoWriMo website, where there are links to the personal websites of hundreds of participating poets. If you’d like to try your hand at a poem, the NaPoWriMo site offers daily prompts. And if you are taking up the month-long challenge this year (and plan to publish your poems in real time), then consider registering your website with them.

Another poet, Elizabeth Boquet, is also publishing something each day this April on her own blog. Definitely worth a daily look!

Wishing you joy and clarity on your own journey today, LESLIE