The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

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.