I hope everyone is having a productive National Poetry Month. I’m hijacking the daily prompt from Robert Lee Brewer’s Write Better Poetry blog for this special anniversary.
Today let’s write a poem celebrating human spaceflight since it’s the 60th anniversary of the first human to orbit the earth, Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1. It’s also the 40th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch and has become a worldwide holiday and a great excuse to party called Yuri’s Night.
Let the final frontier inspire you to heavens then bring your poem down to earth and post it in comments below. Let’s Go!
Living Poetry 
Mission Control didn’t know
how he’d react without weight
so they locked the controls
Want to read the rest?
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | April 12, 2021, 8:08 PMAt twenty-seven you strapped
in and soared out of sight
The first to reach space.
Your feet back on Mother’s soil
was a spectacular success.
What was the sin
that made you a scapegoat
for you to leave for good seven
year later? In an air crash no less.
You earned a seat
on the Altar of Flight
where we pay our respects
on Yuri’s Night.
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Posted by JeanMarie | April 12, 2021, 6:01 PMExcellent! Even a rhyme at the end!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | April 12, 2021, 6:02 PMThanks. I looked him up and was shocked that he died so young. I felt like I needed to write for him. There are a lot of quotes attributed to him. I think he liked the spotlight. They changed town names in Russia to his last name and his ashes are in a wall in the Kremlin.
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Posted by JeanMarie | April 12, 2021, 7:20 PMYeah, I try not to do too much hero worship, especially for astronauts who, while risking their lives, are backed by hundreds or thousands of others but Yuri had balls.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | April 12, 2021, 7:35 PMA tribute to the astronaut, too brave, too young. Great poem!
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Posted by Priscilla Bettis | April 12, 2021, 9:27 PMThank you Priscilla!
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Posted by JeanMarie | April 12, 2021, 9:33 PMWell done. A dedication and a mystery.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 15, 2021, 9:58 AMQuote from Vera Pavlova: On Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space: “his last name comes from the Russian gagara, a flightless bird.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/69788/heaven-is-not-verbose-a-notebook#:~:text=Why%20poetry%20is%20like%20earthworms,and%20understanding%20is%20like%20insanity.&text=My%20writing%3A%20hard%2Dboiled.&text=The%20cud%20of%20thinking%3A%20by%20the%20evening%20my%20jaw%20aches.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 12, 2021, 8:15 AMThank you for posting this link. So many great lines here, like “I went to bed with a poem in my mouth. I could not kiss.” Lovely
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Posted by JeanMarie | April 12, 2021, 2:26 PMThank you. I came across it from another poet. I love how these fall into our laps.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 14, 2021, 8:31 AMVery cool!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | April 12, 2021, 5:27 PMThank you!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 14, 2021, 8:29 AMtake me for a ride
into space worlds never seen
clamp my helmet tight
suspended to spaciousness
there’s a star to call our own
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 12, 2021, 7:23 AMI love this!
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Posted by JeanMarie | April 12, 2021, 2:25 PMThank you!
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 14, 2021, 8:32 AMLove the line “suspended to spaciousness” Great work!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | April 12, 2021, 5:25 PMThank you. I am fond of that line, too.
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Posted by Lisa Tomey | April 14, 2021, 8:29 AM