Why We Love Star Trek
(for Paula Gunn Allen & Sherman Alexie)

                1.
A thick December
Fog swallows city
Streets.  The 3:10
Saint Philomena
Bell rings us kids home.

Eyes suddenly wide,
We spring to life and
Rush the convent racks.
Sister Fatty Patty
Bellows, “Walk your bikes!”

Now off the blacktop
And out of earshot
We board our eager
Ships, throttle through dense
Dewy white, zoom home

At Warp six!  Across
Carson Street, along
213th, one by
One, classmates break ranks,
De-cloak their Birds of Prey.

Now it is just us,
Cousins and brothers,
We slow to impulse
To debate our route
Through alien zones.

             


   2.
We could take Avalon,
And cruise by the Mall
Where Klingon starships
Lurk, on alert for
Rotten Samoan kids.

Or we could jump to
Warp 8, blast through the
Industrial park,
Evading creatures
Demanding child sex.

Soon it is agreed
And we fly! fly! fly!
Through the Shell Station:
Ding! Ding! Ignoring
Attendant curses:

Damned Mexican brats!
Nothing can stop us
As we dodge Photon
Torpedoes, Phasers
Through alleys and yards.

In nebulous fog
We out maneuver
Black kids who call us
Crazy Gypsies and
Shout, we want your bikes!
   

                3.
Once on Annalee—
Where you think you goin?
Tiger and Buster’s
Mother yells at them.
You better get your

Lil’ rusty behinds
In this house right now
And do your homework!
Aw, Mom!  Don’t you “Aw
Mom” me! Get on in here!

Now Bridgett’s mom wants
Her to clean her room
Christy’s dad needs help;
Ours is in the driveway.
So all us kids move

At Warp 94
Getting homework, chores
And baths over with!
Nothing can stop us,
Because Uncle Joe has

Bought Baba, who lives
Four houses down and
Is our grandmother and
Everyone else’s,
A new TV set.

                4.
Just this once before
Crazy Uncle Fred
Hawks the TV for
Hard liquor, we want
To see Captain Kirk

In living color.
Now at 10 ‘til 4,
Everybody’s here
On couches, chairs, or
Sprawled out on the floor.

Baba’s kitchen smells
Of red beans and rice,
Or greens and cornbread
Or crawdad gumbo,
Always something good.

And now! Just this once,
Now, we boldly go
Where no Indian
Has gone before, Space:
The final frontier!

Here is where we find
Total acceptance,
Aboard the Enterprise,
Where no one gawks to
Wonder what we are.
   

                   5.
When we watch Star Trek,
We cheer when we see
Kirk kiss Lieutenant
Uhura without
Reference to race.

We all love Sulu,
Scotty, Chekov, and
Though no Indian
Strides across the bridge,
Mister Spock is ours.

Now here’s a man we all
Want to be, just this
Once not crying for
Stolen lands, butchered
Ancestors, smallpox

Relocation Acts,
Or lies of history.
Just this once, no one
Mines dilithium
Crystals on our lands

Or tapes our hopeful mouths
When we speak Logic.
Just this once, we are
The good guys.  Just this once
We have a future

Just this once.