These Are the Voyages

Things would have been different if Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were with You in the garden that night...

These Are the Voyages

God’s honest,
the first time I heard about Jesus Christ
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
I was in Mrs. Faulk’s Sunday School class
at First United Methodist Church
of Dothan, Alabama, and I thought, Jesus,
of course your disciples fell asleep.
It was late, and You were praying on and on
like a southern preacher in mid-July,
plus, You got them drunk on You just an hour before.
I perked up when Mrs. Faulk said Peter hacked off that soldier’s ear.
Who even does that?
It was cool when You magicked his ear back on too,
but I was disappointed by how You went so gently into that good day.

Maybe my belief was suspended by the whipping I received
for refusing to get ready for church on time,
but Star Trek was on,
and I wanted to know if that horrifying rubbery salt creature
consumed all her hosts. Things would have been different
if Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were with You in the garden that night.
Kirk would have stunned those Roman guards with his phaser
while Spock disabled the rest with precisely placed Vulcan nerve pinches.
They could have rescued You in less than an hour
and beamed You on board to boldly go
where no Son of Man has gone before.

image by Matt Layne

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Matt Layne writes…

If you have been keeping up with my writing, you know I love to tell a story, but I think These Are the Voyages is a story in and of itself. It’s all there: phasers, Vulcan nerve pinches, betrayal, and miracles, so beam down and read up, but before you do, I want to remind you that your heart and ideas and voice are essential to this crazy mixed-up world. Keep on shining and speaking up and speaking out and don’t ever stop boldly going towards a brighter future.

Image is an old pajama shirt that I modified to tell this story and yes, that’s little me next to Spock.

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“These are the Voyages” appears in Miracle Strip, released August 31, 2022.

Miracle Strip, a poetry collection by Matt Layne, is a unique hybrid of the written and spoken word. Each piece of the collection has an end-stop embellishment QR code which, when scanned, transforms the reader into a listener. Layne has recorded each poem, often with the accompaniment of musician and poet, Ned Mudd. The first line of the book invites the reader to “tell me your story, and I will tell you mine,” in the campfire tradition. In Miracle Strip, the reader and poet embark on an experiential journey of memories and the ghosts who haunt us.

Miracle Strip by Matt Layne is in print! Get your copy today!

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Poet, librarian, raconteur; Matt Layne has been poking hornet’s nests and looking under rocks for lizards and snakes since he was knee-high to a peanut peg. His debut multimedia poetry collection, Miracle Strip, had been awarded the 2025 Alabama Author Award for Poetry and was named the 2024 Book of the Year by the Alabama State Poetry Society. Order your copy today.

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