Barker, they called you,
those space station people, & how original
for a canine labeled mongrel, female,
female for docile, obedient, the doctors
found in their test groups.  Smaller 
in size was better as well, for the built-
in metal restraints that came with the suit
and its’ clean pelvic sanitation device 
though, good iron girl, 
you would try to hold in your stool.
Did anyone take note
of your ears perked with intelligence,
those soft risen flaps folded over
as you listened, head titled, comic frown
between the eyes, brown and without guile?
Placid, was one description used, 
for with the sensors implanted you did well
in that increasingly cramped space, pressurized
sonic with sounds to duplicate the rocket’s roar,
the revving engine’s whistle. How swell 
for them & you…?  Ok, so one keeper,
Vladimir, did take you home slightly
before the flight, a seeming reprieve,
but you were returned to the same capsule
& in any case, with not enough food to sustain you
after the launch, nor was it expected to
since oxygen deprivation was certain
& they said painless to boot.
Oh wise humans as children did you clip kitten’s
whiskers to see what they would do?
Dear Sputnik Laika, basically you were screwed
into a silver bullet with the speed of a missile
as heat rose all around in the rattling recorded
with your distressed breath & shaking heart,
from whimper to howl.  Still, later on stamps
& with a statue, they did deign to honor you,
man’s best friend sacrificed as friends must be
for the sake of man’s glory & earth’s first gift
to the heavens:  debris of cold fur, 
dead meat & bones.

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Stephen Mead is an Outsider multi-media artist and writer.  Since the 1990s he’s been grateful to many editors for publishing his work in print zines and eventually online.  Recently his work has appeared in CROW NAME, WORDPEACE and DuckuckMongoose. Currently he is resident artist/curator for The Chroma Museum, artistic renderings of LGBTQI historical figures, organizations and allies predominantly before Stonewall, The Chroma Museum – The Chroma Museum (weebly.com)