1.
The doorstep darkens.
A captain faces a queen,
fire filling their veins.
With love and fury,
the galaxy contracts. Lost
family comes home.
2.
Loving gift of mind—
a child’s tears, falling dew,
break his mother’s fever.
3.
Cramped sleeping chambers
leaking restless childhood dreams—
life’s eggs and caskets.
4.
Silence smooth as silk,
till fame claps the air, bursting
stillness at its seams.
5.
A toast, two friends: to old made
new, to loved and shunned,
to future’s too few.
6.
Her shadow stretches, falls
back and becomes the night.
She touches the sun.
Poet’s Notes
Last weekend I finished watching the TV series Star Trek: Voyager all the way through. For personal enjoyment, I wrote a short poem after watching each episode. Voyager captures the grandeur of the universe, similar to Mormonism’s invocation of worlds without number. The scale of this cosmic storytelling amplifies the poignancy of human relationships.
For any readers who also happen to be Star Trek fans, the above poems correspond to the following episodes of Voyager:
- Season 7 Ep. 25, “Endgame”
- Season 7 Ep. 2, “Imperfection”
- Season 6 Ep. 18, “Ashes to Ashes”
- Season 6 Ep. 13, “Virtuoso”
- Season 7 Ep. 11, “Shattered”
- Season 5 Ep. 18, “Course: Oblivion”
Wheat & Tares 
These are fantastic poems. Mankind surely should look to the Heavens for inspiration. However, I would caution you about becoming immersed in Star Trek. Right from the beginning, the series objectified women and pushed a promiscuous lifestyle.
Early versions of ST definitely did objectify women: in the selection of actors, in the costumes, and in the roles. However, the more recent incarnations have been much less so. ST-Discovery has fully clothed women playing leading or prominent roles.
The issue of promiscuity is more complicated. Long journeys in space make for limited options for interpersonal relationships. Occasionally changing starships further complicates relationships. Humans need sex.
And or course, there is the issue of homosexuality. ST-Discovery has a prominent gay couple.
How about marriage (or just intercourse) between different species? JCS, does that bother you? Does DHO need develop a theology on this?
Gene had a liberal agenda. Does that bother you?
I like these poems. Suggested edit: “a” is general, “the is specific”. I believe by its nature poetry is rooted in specificity.
THE key component in our theology is infinite intercourse required to populate worlds, JC’s weird prudishness notwithstanding. We are basically a cosmic sex cult. Compared with this, a bit of fine Klingon ankle on ST is small potatoes indeed.
Roger, it is not okay for Hollywood to objectively women simply because they have green skin and pointy ears. Is is always wrong.
Trish, I’m guessing you have no earthly idea how Klingon women feel about objectification. For all you know they dig it.
I was not my intent to defend ST’s early objectification of women. I only wanted to point out that things have dramatically improved through the years.
An interesting thing happened as I wrote these poems. I started employing feminine pronouns by default. (I had already made the decision not to use characters’ names.) Because of Voyager’s storylines, which involve at least three fully-realized female characters, it was an obvious choice. No big miracle. No great writing challenge either. And that’s the point. This time, using “she” instead of “he” felt as natural and effortless as it’s ever felt for me. I like noticing that shift. It makes me feel more free as a thinker and a writer. That doesn’t have to be everyone’s takeaway, but it was mine.
Neal Stephenson’s SEVENEVES for female-centric sci-fi. A small black hole shatters the moon which renders earth unlivable. Seven women repopulate the solar system via parthenogenesis. Not particularly well-written but speculative & unique.