Tag Archives: Leslie Schultz poetry and photography

Launch of National Poetry Month, 2026! Context for Poem “Liftoff”! No April Foolin’!

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Moon to the South of My House, Easter 2018 (Leslie Schultz0

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.

Moon Through My Living Room Window (Leslie Schultz)

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

Words to Meet the Moment Event Yesterday

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As many of you know, yesterday a local effort took place in our city. Poets and others joined together to reject the invasion of the federal government into peaceful local processes. The event, called Words to Meet the Moment: A Poetry Event Against Fascism, was organized by our local independent Content Bookstore; hosted by our primary gathering space, the historic Grand Event Center; emceed by our former poet laureate, Rob Hardy; was broadcast over the radio by our local independent station, KYMN-FM Radio; and served to raise funds for a new organization called Northfield Helping Neighbors, managed by our highly effective Community Action Center.

Twenty-nine poets shared a mix of original and previously published work over a space of about two hours. An estimated 115 people attended, and many also listened in real time via KYMN-FM’s live stream. (My own contribution is a sonnet variation called “Dirge for Renee Good: A Call to {Open} Arms”. My presention starts at about the 42-minute mark.)

The energy in the room was high. The voices expressed a full spectrum of concerns, emotions, poetic forms, life experiences, and languages — beautiful passages not just in English but in Spanish. My own poem, a nonce-form sonnet variation, employs the imagery of seeing through ICE and lighting a candle in a dark time.

The images I share here are of myself and architectural details only. All concerned agreed to protect each other’s privacy. The image above is of a candle made in this house, by my husband, from local beeswax, resting on a Norwegian silver dish given to us years ago by kind neighbors, the Heibergs. Neighbors — that sums it up.

It helped me to stand with others for a few moments, to take a small but important step to preserve our precious First Amendment rights.

I learned today that a chapbook containing much of the original work is being planned for publication in February. Donations from the event yesterday raised more than $1,500 to help vulnerable people here. When it is available, I will let you know.

Thank you for your caring enough to read to the end and for all the other things you are doing as a concerned citizen. As a neighbor. Even to those you haven’t yet met.

LESLIE

MEZZO CAMMIN Releases Its Summer 2025 Issue, and It Contains Two Poems By Me: “Wondering…” and “Saxophone”

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For me, it is always a cause for celebration when a new issue of Mezzo Cammin is published. And I am especially joyful about having two poems included in the Summer 2025 issue. Both my poems are about memory: “Wondering…” and “Saxophone.” What I shall remember about this issue of the journal is the splendid poetic company my own poems keep.

You will have your own favorites, I know. While I am still reading and savoring the offerings in this issue, today I am wowed by Katie Hartsock’s poem for the luminous Rhina Espaillat; Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas’s poem, “The Chapel Wife,”; and a long-form poem, “Strange Hero,” by Julia Griffin, whose shorter, keenly made poems I have come to look forward to in the journal, Light.

(To learn more about Ken McCullough’s work,including his collection, Dark Stars, which inspired my poem, “Saxophone,” take a look at his website.)

“View to the East” (photograph by Leslie Schultz)

April 26, 2025 Context for Poem “Garden Stripes”

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Zebra Iris Leaves
Zebra Skies Last Evening
Close-up: Zebra Iris Bloom

For some reason, all unreasoning, I love stripes in nature and in the built world. Zebras are my favorite animals. So when I discovered this Zebra iris, oh, perhaps five years ago, I bought some for our garden. Some years they bloom, but even on off years, I cheer the emergence of their dark- and light-green stripes. Someday, I will find that perfect-to-me unicorn, the iris with black and white striped blooms. Meanwhile, I will enjoy such chance encounters with zebra skies (in my back garden last evening) and in the garden of someone who lives near the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I also read and re-read a favorite poem by Gerard Manly Hopkins, “Pied Beauty,” whose immortal lines I am sure you know:

Glory be to God for dappled things--
For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow....

For this botanical term, I also went off-road from Rosendahl’s glossary, since I had a “Z” inspiration near to hand.

Looking Back: After I wrote the poem, “Rhubarb,” on April 18th, Tim told me that “rhubarb” is not only a plant but also a baseball term! Does everyone else know that? It means a dust-up between players, fans, and umpires–think “ruckus,” “heated disagreement” or even “fisticuffs!” I wonder why the connection to “rhubarb”? Perhaps something sharp “barb” that one regrets (or “rues”)? If anyone knows the etymology, please let me know.

Looking Ahead: During the next four days in April, the last of this year’s Poem-a-Day Challenge, I part company with Rosendahl’s generative glossary. Look forward to (or look out for!) four Wild Card poems.

Photo: Felix Broennimann, polygon-designs (pixabay)
Photo: Leslie Schultz “Polar Zebra”

April 20, 2025 Happy Easter! & Context for Poem “Vines”

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Painted Easter Egg Tucked into Labyrinth Stones & Scilla (Photo: Leslie Schultz, 2007)

Today, the words “trailing” and “twining” seemed a natural pair to me, and “tendrils” fit right in with these sororal twins both in terms of sound and sense. The accompanying photos from our garden show three plants: a Grandpa Ott morning glory, a winter squash, and a California poppy. The morning glory climbs, just as reliably as the sun does each morning. The squash, Tim finds, does better with a short trellis or fence to climb, too, rather than trailing on the ground in a more traditional garden plot, because then the fruit does not rot. The California poppy is not a twiner or a trailer by definition, but…its tendrils are so thin and flexible that it sometimes appears to be both.

Once I had selected the words, the title suggested itself, as did the long, skinny shape.

Wishing you a splendid Easter Sunday! LESLIE

California Poppies (Photo: Leslie Schultz, 2024)