old poem for a good girl..
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.]
