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enjoy this writing from Janet Kuypers in the cc&d free 2015 PDF file chapbook: Imzadi of Star Trek (never-before performed) poems live 3/21/15 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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Full Stop
Janet Kuypers
3/16/15
When you’re driving down the expressway,
you see rush hour traffic slowing the lanes down,
but you look up and the car in front of you
is at a full stop,
and a lot closer than you realized.
So you slam on the brakes as hard as you can,
you feel your car shuddering and screeching
'til you feel your car rock back from the brakes
once you’ve come to a full stop, just in time.
In our short time here on planet Earth,
we all understand the concept of a “full stop.”
In the U.K., a full stop is another term
for a period, to bring a sentence to a full stop...
But in Star Trek, Captain Kirk, Jean Luc Picard,
or even Commander Riker, have all been known
to tell their crew to take the Enterprise
to a “full stop.”
But I have to ask: in relation to what?
In relation to the stellar objects nearby?
Because from what I’ve heard, the universe
doesn’t sit still, but that everything’s
expanding away from everything else.
Are we at a full stop right now, on Earth,
when the planet spins, and orbits the Sun,
and our solar system is at the edge of an arm
of the Milky Way Galaxy, spinning like mad.
And think of it — our own galaxy
is speeding away from everything else out there.
So what is full stop, I’d have to ask.
A full stop, in reference to what?
Because without a reference point,
we’re all just moving,
faster than we can imagine.
We’ll never stop.
But I mean, it feels like we’re still,
so I guess it’s all relative.
If you’re in an unmoving line at a grocery store,
or if you’ve turned off the engines of the Enterprise,
you can at least say
that suddenly,
everything feels
like a full
stop.
