

¢
funereal bowsprit. does the current
plumb that deep. was Laika felt that
strongly. she lived so short. did shelaika was the first living thing launched into space by humans.  laika was the sole passenger of sputnik 2.  she did not come back.  
continue on. broke from her vessel.
out of the lamp. the cat let out of
the bag.

then free of her metal shell. the
final point realized. needless
inorganic weight.

no thoughts need be kept in her canine
mind of hunger. the deep down code of
breathing could finally be ignored.

she opened her lungs to the void.

the matters of matter & physics &
necessary implosion we'll leave
behind here. beloved science thrown
to the ratrace. much less wayside.

gone by.

                   her jaws hung wide. in awe. disbelief.
                   she'd been flung first by slavic men
                   in a tincan from the kremlin's steps
                   up. up. and she was the first living
                   breathing beast.

                   flung now or freed. slipped easily
                   from a weird exoskeleton(most appear
                   so). stepped. fetched into the vacuum.
                   the open of space. this shell. carapace
                   fell. flung to burn in an uninviting
                   atmosphere.


         and she in her
         freedom. thought
         (and less than that).
         howled.
¢



¢
the cold calculation of instrumentation
       kept her in cage or capsule. thrust into
       the void in three stages. ninehundredthirtyseven
       miles up. (moscow to berlin)

space capsule. a dose of this world.
from this world. out of the outer
atmosphere. long notes. whole notes.
with nothing to carry them through space.
no means of being heard for that dog's
howl.

                       in the vacuum. absence. of objects.
                       matter. to reflect waves of sound.

but this interstellar beast.
wanderer of the space between.
the nothing that makes up the universe.

a dog breathing nothing exhales nothing.
her voice with no reflection accrues the
interest and qualities of light.

               it is heard as she approaches.


                       she follows closely.
                       speed, linear scale of time
                       unknown.

that wide held mouth's call persists.
¢

¢
it cant be said she had a
rachetty little ass and a
skirt all the boys liked
to chase. a shade in other ways.
she moved like the faint
distinction of colors in
the sky.


         an orbital albatross throughout
         an expanding fluid temporal
         depiction.

         canis. astral genus
         of an openended landscape. Laika
         a fledgling member. out of the
         nest.

         she caught a scent. struck a warm
         track. the natural thing. she
         followed the trail around imposing
         stellar organizations to its source.
¢
¢
         whether euthanasia or starvation
      were stated. released. a week.
      seven of the hundredeightytwo days.
      each orbit. a hundredtwo minutes.
      the second agent of man. machined.
      handbuilt. ferried out of the atmosphere
      in stages to circle the earth.
      cyclical consternation.

      and the first living breathing
      creature. a barker. biological
      observations transmitted from
      the ring described around the
      earth. (we all fall down) across
      a now-laden sky.


bowtie and tophat signs
of that celestial circus
enmeshed in orbit. in
rings. in unprecedented
sideshows. barked told
sold woven through the
stellar joyride of man-
made machine and man's
best friend.

                   the gambit there still lies in
                   belief. is the ringmaster's
                   rote or spontaneous ditty. his
                   bark. her call. the whole truth.
                   the way things really happened.

                         Laika's heart-rate. respiration.
                         biological observations. a week's
                         worth of reportage. taken down
                         in a scientific shorthand of
                         peaks and valleys. faded those
                         seven days. at the close no
                         weekend holiday.
¢
¢
 ivan or yuri or kasimir
          kept count of those beats
          tallied like meals on a
          prison wall.
                        cellular history.
          and one man. surely someone.
          kept the gravity of those
          tally marks. those primitive
          scratches in crumbling plaster
          to heart.


ivan or yuri or kasimir
surely one. esteemed the
moment the switch was
flipped. button pressed.
final breath was drawn.



                     then like a family pet's
                     fatal communion with a
                     speeding fender or whitewall
                     or the last quiet gasp
                     in a porch shaded by an
                     elder tree.
                                 Laika expired.
                     or transmuted. or escaped.
                     was freed of mechanical bonds.
                     of canine capsule.
                     zero gravity be damned.
                                              Laika
                     proceeded.
                                with the actions.
                     (if you'll allow those steps)
                     of history's initial spacewalk.
                     a cyclical hunt that continues.
                     unhindered in the void.
                     leashless.

                     big game or smaller targets
                     pursued by this spacedog.
                     free to follow.
¢
¢
the coarse wintry night of space
         feathered her fur with spacedust
         and cosmic rays. she forced this
         trail. kept up to its warmth. to
         tree or bay quarry.
                             to prey on
         what led her where.


wings. in another medium.
in an atmosphere. anyplace
else. would have been a
natural development.

but propulsion of that
variety. there. here in
space. would prove
useless.

so she went
without wings.
with no
noticeable means
of propulsion
past her gait.

                             a gait that far exceeded
                             any measured run within
                             the confines of earth. she
                             lit out across an expanse
                             of universe like
your neighbor's backyard.

¢

¢
thusly morning began or continued
                       Laika was free of her space capsule
                       released by time or necessity or myth

               she climbed.  for every direction in space
               is up from the right angle.  up & out
               from an infinite point.

                                       she climbed or descended
                                       to the center of a changing
                                       amorphous formation.
                                       expanding by law and theory.

       arithmetically impossible.
       she traveled at a speed
       that surpassed electricity
       without time.

       travel without time or measure.
       distance. milemarkers and lightyears
       ignored.
¢
¢
Laika.  Laaaiiikkaaa…
across a fertile valley
packed to the rafters
with game and peril.
peril put to ease
by a dog.


                       she runs through tall grass.
                       across an airy hillside.
                       in response to the call
                       of a young boy.  a boy whose
                       intent is love as that's
                       what boys with dogs
                       like Laika intend.


she leans into the light stride of her shoulders
to slow as she approaches the boy.  she barks.

                               the boy crouches. he pets the dog
                               with rough strokes of enthusiasm.
                               Laika verily towers over him.
                               licks his face.

this countryside. her valley
is in full view from the hillside with the boy.
trees yawn in the wind.
throughout, animals pursue life.

       Laika keeps tabs on the valley.
       but it changes. peril appears
       & migrates. lines & topography
       are changing.
 ¢
¢
she persists. examining the posture
of landscape & unbridled star charts.

       she rescues herself from a more likely demise
       extracted from conscientious nourishment
       in the bent of space. leaping a diminished rock
       fence.


something there is that doesn’t love a wall
that hurdles stone with a dog
& botanical denizens of a slightly
interrupted wilderness.
                                   the wilds between
planets & systems & celestial curtains
the boy identifies as an expanded hunting ground
(if he carried a powder horn he kept it dry)

               & the pursuit crossed its own path.
               doubled back on itself. to repeat.
               beginning taken for a finale
               that repeats.

       Laika. Laaiiiiikkaaaa…
trembling in the vacuum.
breathing the howl.
released
¢

I pray for more grace in my life... 
let's this year be my year.. 


Followers of sputnik two