It’s time for another Saturday Spotlight! This month’s theme is poems and so far I have shared Today by Mary Oliver and The Sciences Sing a Lullaby by Albert Goldbarth. You can find those posts here and here.
This week I am sharing a poem about the first dog who went to space, Laika. I wish there was more about this incredible little dog, but this poem is really great.
Here is First Dog in Space by Brennig Davies:
They say that, from space,
the Earth looks like a
small, blue ball, but how
did it look to you, Laika?
From that shuttle like a ballon
whose string they let go, and which
they never trained for recall?
They say that you were a stray
who never fought with other dogs,
and that the clever people called you pet names
through the wires of your shrinking cages,
and that, before you died, overheating
in that heavy, weightless cold, one of them
took you home, and you played with his kids.
They say that, from space,
the Earth looks like
a small, blue ball. I’ll throw it
for you, Laika, if you’ll chase it,
dart through the stratosphere
like a comet, underserving
of its fate.
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