I performed two poems at Lowell Observatory's annual I ❤ Pluto Festival Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Orpheum Theatre. The featured guests were Adam Nimoy, a television director and son of the late actor Leonard Nimoy; Alan Stern, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the New Horizons Mission to Pluto; comet-hunter David Levy, who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (D/1993 F2) with Flagstaff scientists Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker.
This was the second of the two poems I wrote for the event. Adam Nimoy gave me standing ovation as I left the stage. I'm so glad he enjoyed this poem about his dad.
Adam Nimoy emailed me after the festival:
"Thank you for all of this, Christopher. Very thoughtful, thought provoking, and just simply well said.
A fitting tribute to a man and an icon both of whom have become so much a part of our collective psyche.
LLAP,
Adam"
“The Most Human”
(with sincere apologies to Adam Nimoy)
by Christopher Fox Graham
“Space: the final frontier”
urged us to look beyond this earth
upwards
to trek across the stars
to contemplate what’s beyond the event horizon
of Doomsday Machine black holes
wonder, awestruck at the Menagerie
of metronomic pulsars
of sapphire-amethyst nebulae
stretching across light years
to go where no man has gone before
Mercury, Gemini and Apollo brought men
to the edge of space and beyond
but before Armstrong set foot on the moon
we were already among the stars
as silent passengers aboard our
Enterprise
 |
| This model of the starship Enterprise was used in the original 1966-1969 "Star Trek" TV show, donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 1974. |
we warped space itself
for the sake of plot
and beamed down to worlds
we will never reach
never see in our lifetime
on this side of the screen
the Red Scare
Japanese Internment camps
and Segregation weren’t yesterdays
but ancient history
sins forgiven, but never forgotten
the Enemy Within, a Balance of Terror
between human nature and our better angels
we Let That past Be Our Last Battlefield
understanding "without followers, evil cannot spread"
and formed a United Federation
of planets and crew
the future was now
and now was history,
Pavel Chekov navigated the course
Hikaru Sulu helmed the ship
Nyota Uhura spoke unsilenced for them all
Montgomery Scott could work miracles down below
amid redshirts
who deaths were never statistics
but revelations that danger
hides amid the stars
we could remain safe here
trapped on This Side of Paradise
in All Our Yesterdays
but this fragile starship Earth,
is a City on the Edge of Forever,
and the Devil is in the Dark
so we go boldly
to seek strange new worlds,
new life and new civilizations
ethos, pathos, logos commanding in trinity
James Kirk the spirit,
Bones McCoy the heart
and Spock the mind
 |
| Crew of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 in 2266: Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott [James Doohan], Ensign Pavel Chekov [Walter Koenig], Lt. Cmdr./Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy [DeForest Kelley], nurse Christine Chapel [Majel Barrett], Captain James T. Kirk [William Shatner], Lt. Nyota Uhura [Nichelle Nichols], Cmdr. Spock [Leonard Nimoy] and Lt. Hikaru Sulu [George Takei], from left |
passion and compassion
can’t survive long
with death outside the bulkheads
only cold Vulcan logic could rationalize
that the needs of the many
outweigh the needs of the few
or the one
Spock was too human to be Vulcan,
and too Vulcan to be human,
a exile son of two worlds
fully from neither
fully from both
 |
| Photo from "Star Trek: Spock's Entire Prime Universe Timeline,Explained" ScreenRant |
with pointed ears that marked him as “other,”
Spock mirrored us to ourselves
wondered what made us human
questioned what we took for granted
pushed against illogical behaviors
we accept without question
“logic is the beginning of wisdom,
not the end”
the old Vulcan proverb says
“only Nixon could go to China”
and only Leonard Nimoy could be Spock
Mr. Nimoy,
you, too, were of two worlds
an exile son of the old
but a citizen of the new
fully from neither
but fully from both
your grandfather, the adventurer,
left behind the ghosts of the old nations
came to this America,
the mother of exiles
this safe shore for the tempest-tossed
your parents fled a shtetl in Russia
to escape pogroms and Cossack raids
your father, walking across the border to Poland
your mother, smuggled out in a hay wagon
you were born in Boston’s West End,
speaking Yiddish with your grandmother
keeping Kosher in a city of gentiles
with rough accents and strange customs
but a sky full of the same stars
they arrived as aliens,
and became citizens
you went to Hollywood
and became an alien
a bridge between past and present
telling tales from the future
not burdened by history
not bound to earth
you forged Spock,
making him more you than Roddenberry
maintaining character between shoots
the voice of reason
emotions restrained
logical, rational, distant from the chaos
you transformed a priestly blessing from synagogue
into the Vulcan salute
mainstreaming a childhood memory
of your orthodox upbringing
into the American melting pot
“Live Long and Prosper” a shibboleth
so we nerds and fans
Trekkies and Trekkers,
may know each other by it
you, Mr. Nimoy as Mr. Spock,
became a symbol for NASA and astronomers
who wore pointed ears to Star Trek conventions
after weeks studying the cosmos
when Spock fell at the Battle of the Mutara Nebula
his death shook two galaxies
sacrificing himself to save the ship and the crew
dying as he lived
his final words:
“I have been...
and always shall be...
your friend”
said to Kirk, but meant for all of us
you and Spock speaking as one
and you are our friend, Mr. Nimoy,
even if only met through the screen
Hollywood cast and Starfleet crew
brought Spock back,
McCoy lost his mind holding your katra
Kirk lost his son, his ship, his command
the crew destroyed a planet
destroyed the Enterprise
“Because the needs of the one... “
“outweigh the needs of the many”
and your fascinating story was not yet over
neither in time
nor in timeline
true friendship transcends death
 |
| The cast on the set of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," in 1991, the last film where the original crew appeared as a group. |
your final words, off screen, Mr. Nimoy,
were your blessing, LLAP
“Live Long and Prosper”
fully human, fully Vulcan
even at the end
you gave yourself,
to give us Spock
You did not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one,
and we will not debate your profound wisdom at these proceedings
Of our friend
We can only say this:
Of all the souls we have encountered in our travels,
yours was the most ...
human
 |
"765874" by OTOY
(It's best to just watch this four-part series and not ask any questions about how they were made until you finish, if at all. Just accept these pieces as they are, as high art, as filmmaking, as storytelling, then watch them and walk away satisfied.
If you are curious about how and why they were made, and the tremendous work and love that went into them, the story is amazing)
"765874 - Memory Wall" by OTOY
"765874 - Regeneration" by OTOY
"765874 - Unification" by OTOY
Kirk and Spock get the final goodbye they never had on screen.
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