Dogs in Space - Ed Coletti

[Larry Robinson]

Dogs in Space

Janice in my cave sings a money song.

I in my old jeans would rather be in
Morocco or Thailand or
even in the Klondike or Utah
though obviously not quite this soon.

I plan to climb into my silver flivver, 
become the little prince of space,
gently fly the Jans, Jacks and Jills away 
from big cash and proudly watch them 
leave fivers for denizens of the dog stars:

Sirius who hunted with mighty Orion 
shone brightest in the sky, but I attended
Procyon the pup who’d preceded Sirius 
and who was not permitted to join Orion 
in the master’s constellation as had she 

in the wake of Orion’s demise, but
the gods having noticed the big dog’s grief 
took pity upon the hang dog Sirius.
I shall never understand why Procyon
a mere puppy was to be left behind to forage for

a home among the multitude of stars in this milky way 
as if he so young and so canine could engage well 
with the intricacies of sidereal real estate give-and-take.
Ear mouth mind brain at war within and outside of
all such dogs in space who without gravity never

seem able to plant their paws back down on any ground at all.
Absent the landing they rise again only to orbit other suns
and we presume that, as with kid balloons bursting into
ultimate absence, humans likewise dwelling in spaces are 
rising sleeping awakening only to disappear in a quiet puff,

much as Jan’s departing canticle, 
born lively on that cavern floor, 
drifts gradually up and beyond the clouds, and
approaches its own diminishing coda. 

	- Ed Coletti