Artemis By Shannon O’Connor

When I was young, my family had

a 3-D image of the Apollo 11 landing

on top of the ledge of the doorway,

the first man on the moon.

I asked my father why the craft was named

Apollo,

not Artemis,

since she was the goddess of the moon,

and Apollo, the god of the sun.

He didn’t have a good answer,

I think he muttered the sun reflects

on the moon, and that’s where its

light comes from.

I didn’t buy it.

I believe the ship was named 

Apollo because he was a man,

and Artemis, a woman.

Even in space, men made the rules.

Fast forward to now.

Artemis 2 went around the moon.

Was she named 

Artemis

because all the little girls like me had

the same question? Because the ship that goes

to the moon should be named

after the goddess of the moon.

We are living in a time where human beings have gone where

no one has gone before, and it’s bewildering to think

the world still turns, we have the same

issues, not everyone has enough, 

people die senselessly every day,

are born every minute,

some have no purpose and want

to end their lives, wars rage and children

are murdered, 

but the Earth still floats

in space

It will continue until no more humans are here.

But we could go out there.

To see if we’re alone, to possibly

find a magnanimous culture to smack some

sense into the beings on this planet

to tell us we deserve the peace

universally sought,

to dream a dream

of the goddess of the moon,

going further and further,

than anyone else in the history

of this planet we call home.

Shannon O'Connor lives in the Boston area where she works and writes. She travels when she can, in order to find inspiration and worlds outside her sphere. She is the chairperson of the Boston Chapter of the National Writers Union. She can be found on her Substack, Ms. Hen's World.