Laika to Ground Control
I don’t suppose
you’re coming back for me but
I don’t mind, it’s nice out here.
You said before I launched: there’s no way back
—I’m a halfway thing, more bullet than dog
out into the dark morning
and forever
to this black field
where Great Canine winks
her distant starry eye.
Empty as the space that lies between two barks.
Full to bursting.
Laika to Ground Control
can I chase my tail? I know
you want me to sit still but
it’s calling me, just for a second, please.
I can see our planet from here
smooth like the wind washed it soft and blue,
we’re going round, I’m having the time of my life you don’t have to worry
but can I chase my tail?
There’s nothing here for me to knock over.
I miss you. But I don’t mind,
in a hold silver as this any mongrel can be a heroine; any stray can make history.
Laika to Ground Control
[BACKGROUND STATIC]
sorry, I forgot what I was going to say,
Laika to Ground Control
from above Earth is alive at night,
light golden as a million miniature suns,
makeshift constellations.
What do I look like
from below?
Do I glimmer
like a freckle
or an exit wound?
I’ve been sitting still. You don’t have to worry.
I miss you.
Laika to Ground Control
they have summer in space,
did you know? The hours walk warmer and warmer,
the ceiling gleams with June moons
begging for a howl.
I’m lonely,
moons don’t howl back.
I would sit still for years
if it meant I could go back to you.
I miss you. I don’t mind. I miss you though.
Laika to Ground Control
I miss you.
If you would come out here and pet me
I swear to Dog I’ll be good,
never bark again,
you’ll have to find me a new name.
Kometka, little comet, maybe,
I would crash into the sea
to swim to your side.
Be your satellite.
You’re bigger than Earth in my eyes,
I don’t need stars, only you.
Laika to Ground Control
there are pinpricks of light
behind my eyes.
Hot like a bite.
The world is fast and unbreakable,
and I’m just a dog.
And I miss you.
Laika to Ground Control
I miss you. Have I told you that yet?
Out there in the silk-black nothing they’ve long forgotten what time is.
In here time crawls.
In here everything shimmers,
in here it’s just me.
I think I’m dying.
You don’t have to worry, I was nothing and you swung me from alley to orbit,
from the dirt to the stars.
I don’t mind. I just miss you.
I miss you
like the space that lies
between two breaths.
Full to burning.
[images are four stylized digital paintings of horse. the first depicts a dark horse walking along a pink-skied sand dune, tiny in the distance, with its mane and tail drifting tremendously long like a smoke path til it disappears from frame. the next depicts a black horse swimming in a teal lake, the camera positioned half-underwater, long reeds filling the water and sprouting from the surface. the next is a salt flat or other large, shallow body of water reflecting a periwinkle clouded sky; a draft horse stands in the center, strongly backlit. the last is a white horse wading through a pond of pale green algae, leaving a dark trail zigzagging behind it.]
[Image ID. A tweet from sio @BestInSio. “subway rat made eye contact with me and said “join us. when the train comes we slide under the tracks and feel it rumble over us like a warm thunderstorm. we live forever and we love to live” I said no thank you I am too large he turned away from me I cried.” End ID.]
I just want it explicitly stated that I have absolutely no idea about anything that’s going on here, but as a Missouri resident, whoever made this “Amy Dunne” move to this hell state deserved whatever horrible thing she did to him and more
jacobvanloon
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
titsay
stormborns
