CW: Animal death
by Jim Zola
The animals haunting outer space
We expected too much of the five small lichen-colored lizards sent
to procreate in weightlessness, aided, scientists believed,
by their adhesive feet. They died without accomplishing their mission;
the apparatus meant to warm them malfunctioning.
The death of an animal sent into space summons Laika,
easy-going, pert-eared street dog, first cosmonaut,
chosen for a mission scientists knew could only end in death –
whether caused by lack of oxygen, a poisoned last meal,
or the failure of equipment – they all kissed her nose
before closing the hatch on her capsule. Laika’s only mission:
to be alive until she wasn’t.
Now the geckos, clutching each other with their sticky toes,
also haunt outer space, as well as all the Alberts and other chimps.
Drowsy Laika watches over them all, lulling herself
with the memory of the one evening, right before
the day of noise and lethal heat, when one scientist
brought her home and she played with his children.
Merie Kirby grew up in California. She now lives in Grand Forks, ND and teaches at the University of North Dakota. She is the author of The Dog Runs On (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and The Thumbelina Poems (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2015). Her poems have been published in Quartet Journal, Sheila-na-gig Online, Midwest Poetry Review, Avocet, and other journals; she also writes operas and art songs in collaboration with composers. You can find her hanging out with her husband, son, dog, and cat, reading, writing, playing board games, and watching sci-fi movies.
Jim Zola is a poet and photographer living in North Carolina.