A Dog in Space by Lillian Nećakov (I AM STILL WAITING Series)

A Dog in Space
by Lillian Nećakov 

I am still

waiting
lost in the flesh of a word
that once draped herself over
the tongues of those who
loved me

I am still

waiting
for the skinny boy with hands
gentle as snow
whose laughter hula hooped
the saints and seas

I am still

waiting
muscle lazy as mud
to be ferried past Galileo’s grooves
while the earth curves her back
against the un-dogged nebula

I am still

moving
past the blush of horizon
heart jackhammering against
g-force mongrel mother
orbiting my own eulogy
barked through the November streets
by dusty mutts
on the heels of extinction
past the moonbeam filament

I am still

waiting
in the flesh of a word
in the gutter of a prayer
in the underside
of a song.

ILLUSTRATION: Laika by Phineas X. Jones.

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Laika, a stray from the streets of Moscow, occupied the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 launched into outer space on November 3, 1957. The first animal to orbit Earth, she did not survive the mission—a topic of ongoing discussion. 

ILLUSTRATION: Laika by Phineas X. Jones.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lillian Nećakov is the author of six books of poetry, numerous chapbooks, broadsides and leaflets. Her book il virus (a Feed Dog Book) was published by Anvil Press in April 2021. During the 1980s, she ran a micro press called “The Surrealist Poets Gardening Association” and sold her books on Toronto’s Yonge Street. She ran the Boneshaker Reading series from 2010-2020. She lives in Toronto and just might be working on a new book.