# "Ode to Spot" #

There is an unsupported remark in the [Wikipedia article][2] on Data indicating that visual effects artist Clay Dale had written "Ode to Spot".

However, according to this [Q & A session][1] with Brent Spiner, "Ode to Spot" was most likely written by **Brannon Braga**, a Star Trek producer and the writer of the episode "Schisms" in which it first appeared (and also the episode "A Fistful of Data", where the poem appeared again).

> **AUDIENCE MEMBER:** Hi, Brent, do you still remember "Ode to Spot"?

> **SPINER:** What, "Ode to Spot"? Um, Felus cattus is your taxonomic — wait — nomenclature, an endothermic quadruped, carniverous by nature. Go ahead *(to the audience)*. You know what, I knew it by heart once. Um, it was a great poem actually. **I think, er, I think Brannon Braga wrote that poem.** Brannon's a wonderful writer really, and he's such a perverse human being and the stuff that he comes up with is always interesting. I really, really like working with Brannon. **He wrote "Ode to Spot" which is, I think, Pulitzer Prize stuff. Yuh?**

(*Note:* the heading of the web page for the Q & A session says "1977" when it should say "1997".)

# "A Sunset Bloom" #

According to the Memory Alpha article on [anapestic tetrameter][3], the title of the poem beginning with

> *Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed...*

is **"A Sunset Bloom"**.  (Anapestic tetrameter is the meter that Data used for the poem.)

Since this poem premiered in the same episode as "Ode to Spot", it would seem reasonable that Braga wrote it as well.

-----------------------

# Update #

I asked Brannon Braga directly if he wrote them:

> Hi Brannon, quick question: did you write both of Data's poems in "Schisms"? They are very impressive!

He responded with:

> "ODE TO SPOT" is one of my favorite Data scenes.

([Original Tweets][4])

While he didn't explicitly confirm or deny that he wrote the poems, I would imagine that if he didn't write them, he would have said so.  Furthermore, my question and his response prompted another user to ask him if he wrote the lyrics for Data's "Life Forms" song from *Generations*:

> Did you write the Life Forms song too in Generations?

He responded with:

> Lyrics yes but Brent Spiner gave it the tune.

([Original Tweets][5])

Considering this conversation as a whole, I take this as confirming that he wrote both poems and the "Life Forms" song.



  [1]: http://www.classicscifi.org.uk/brent/black2.html
  [2]: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(Star_Trek)
  [3]: http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Anapestic_tetrameter
  [4]: https://twitter.com/BrannonBraga/status/626481706564890624
  [5]: https://twitter.com/BrannonBraga/status/626482422218002432