Size / / /

See Spot

gazing out the porthole

of his space capsule, looking

down at Dick and Jane

who are waving good-bye

to him,

their pet and

loyal friend, and

now the pride of a nation,

about to become the first dog

ever to blast into space

and leave old Earth behind.

See Spot

straining in his harness,

G forces building, fear clouding

his perky eyes, bladder giving way,

praying that the rivets just hold,

while safe on terra firma,

Dick and Jane, mobbed by reporters,

eagerly grab the spotlight.

See Spot

in free fall now, nauseous

and sweat-drenched from head to tail,

wondering to himself,

What the hell was I thinking

when I signed on for this thing?

Even Curious George turned it

down flat. I'm a simple mutt,

and would rather be home chasing

my tail, or a new red ball,

before freezing in horror

as he sees every red malfunction light

on the control panel

begin to blink.

Many chapters later,

after the official State funeral,

news conferences, luncheons,

and dinners for hero Spot,

a new Dick and Jane settle into a

somewhat different routine,

a whole lot richer thanks to

the book and movie deals,

and dramatically,

at each book's end, when

the night sky is crisp and clear,

they stroll out beside their new

swimming pool, and pointing

up at an unblinking star,

as it leisurely moves west to east,

Dick says, see Spot, Jane,

see Spot

so high up in the sky.

'Round and 'round Spot goes

like a merry-go-round.

What fun for our dog Spot, if only

he were still alive. Goodnight,

Spot. Sleep tight, Spot.

Bye-bye, Spot.




G. O. Clark lives in Davis, CA, and is closing in on retirement. His work has appeared in Asimov's, Talebones, and many other magazines, both paper and electronic. His published works include The Other Side of the Lens and A Box Full of Alien Skies, and his latest chapbook of poems is Bone Sprockets. He believes the original Dick and Jane books were actually coded messages from an alien race, but nobody got it.
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4 Nov 2024

“Did you know,” the witch says, “that a witch has no heart of her own?”
Outsiders, Off-worlders {how quickly one carves out a corner of the cosmos, / claims a singular celestial body as [o u r s] in the scope of infinity}
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