First Cosmonaut

A monument to Laika, first dog sent into space, stands in Moscow

Stray mongrel of Moscow
Laika chases her weightless

prey, a marrow bone floating
past her open mouth; her white

hair drifts through the cabin
like milkweed floss across a field.

She barks at passing asteroids
shaped like a Dachshund. In my

imagination, she is not
being cinched into place,

electrodes planted
under her skin. First time

around the Earth her heart doubled
its pace, panic drooled

from her mouth. By the fourth
she stopped transmitting

pulse or respiration rate,
the body’s engine overheated

seven hours after takeoff. remains
cremated on re-entry. Laika,

your eager, pointy ears are bronzed
and listening forever now

as you stand aboard a hand-
like rocket, cradled

in its palm. Fresh red
carnations and rubber balls are often

laid at your feet, within eternal reach.