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enjoy this writing from Janet Kuypers in the cc&d free 2015 PDF file chapbook: Resistance is Futile of Star Trek (never-before performed) poems live 3/20/15 at Chicago’s Chi Fi 2015 convention Click the title or the cover to download the free PDF file chapbook. |
 
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Order this writing in the book Salvation (issues / chapbooks edition) - the cc&d Jan. - June 2015 collection book |
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get the 410 page Jan. - June 2015 cc&d magazine issue collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book: 
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Order this writing in the Janet Kuypers poetry book: a year long Journey Order this 6" x 9" ISBN# book today of writing from performance art shows from June 2014 through June 2014
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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “At the Zoo” Down in the Dirt v210 (8/23)  Order the paperback book: 
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Eugene’s limit
Janet Kuypers
1/23/15
Just read an article
from the daily Times of India newspaper
that relayed the theory
that an interstellar-style wormhole
may exist in the Milky Way.
That there’s this “teleporting” tunnel
we could magically step through
that just pops us out,
somewhere else in the Universe.
But really,
a wormhole’s just a theory
with a catchy little name
that has no basis in reality.
And no one’s ever found a stable wormhole —
even Data and La Forge left the Barzan wormhole
after discovering how unstable it really was.
So I guess Star Trek has to settle
for going beyond the speed of light
with their precious warp drive...
And you know, scientists have only now
been able to finally figure out how
to slow down the speed of light —
(warning, science content:
researchers say that applying a “mask”
to an optical beam,
which would give it spatial structure,
can reduce it’s speed
an infinitesimally small amount
from that beautiful constant.
299 million,
792 thousand,
458 metres per second...)
And if all we’ve been able to do
is try to slow down the speed of light,
how will we ever get to Eugene’s limit
of warp ten?
You know,
it’s really cute,
how we come up with names
for scientific discoveries,
“The Big Bang” wasn’t a bang
when there wasn’t any atmosphere
to allow sound to travel;
“dark matter”
isn’t dark at all,
it’s just a name one scientist said
that for some reason stuck;
“Eugene’s limit”
is an homage in the Next Generation
to Gene Roddenberry
who thought that warp drive
shouldn’t go past ten...
Yeah, thanks to Gene Roddenberry,
by the 24th century, infinite velocity
was the unattainable warp factor ten.
But wait a minute,
let me get back to the science here,
because when it comes of those science geeks
who come up with these theories
like the Big Bang or dark matter,
they try to bring Star Trek into the real world...
They’re trying dilithium now
to try to increase speed
for distance travel
for a future journey to Mars.
And I don’t know how many years
scientists have been trying to transport
even an atom
to anywhere else in the world...
But you know,
with these scientist’s minds out thereÉ
well, the writer Gene Roddenberry
may have come up with a warp drive limit,
but when scientists are taking their cues
from the Star Trek world,
the sky
may not be the limit
any longer.
