For Laika (The First Dog in Space)
all those days, those cold and lonely nights, a stray
scrounging for food through Moscow’s lean streets,
enduring the booted foot, the cast stone,
the winter wind’s bitter bite,
you never sought to fly so high
those who found you had other ideas
and it must have seemed pleasant, at first
to have so much attention—
the photos snapped before Sputnik 2’s launch
show your face, open-mouthed and eager,
up-pricked ears bearing a jaunty forward tilt
as though you couldn’t wait to set your feet
on adventure’s bright path
after blast-off, when you felt
the press of gravity’s iron paw
and heard the rockets howling
like some relentless predator
racing in pursuit,
it must have made your previous tribulations seem
trivial
it’s said that over-heating
caused you to succumb to death’s light embrace
after your capsule completed
a few circuits of the Earth
perhaps that’s just as well—
this was, by design, a one-way voyage
alone, at the end, did you regret
you never had the chance to tell them
you’d have happily settled
for a good long car ride
with your head thrust out an open window?
*Laika, a stray dog launched into space on Sputnik 2 in November, 1957, was the first living creature to orbit the Earth.
About the Author
Lisa Timpf is a retired HR and communications professional who lives in Simcoe, Ontario. A graduate of McMaster University’s Physical Education program, Lisa also took several English and philosophy courses while attending university. Her work and life experiences, as well as her interest in nature, pets, sports, and science, often find their way into her poetry and fiction. Lisa’s interest in writing speculative poetry and short stories began after her retirement in 2014. Since that time, she has had over 250 poems, the majority of them speculative, published.
Her poetry has appeared in Star*Line, Eye to the Telescope, New Myths, Polar Borealis, and other venues. Her work has been published in three Rhysling anthologies and three Dwarf Stars anthologies, including those for the current year. She has also written over 40 speculative fiction stories, as well as a number of book reviews. Lisa’s collection of speculative haibun poetry, In Days to Come, is available from Hiraeth Publishing. When not writing, Lisa enjoys bird-watching and organic gardening. Check out https://lisatimpf.