from the precipice since 2017
Pacific Octopus
Ray Ball
by the end of May
it will hatch
floating into its capacious watery world
eight arms and developed eyes
yet delicate
the size of a pea or a pearl
hungry hatchling
with a survival rate of only 1%
Ray Ball, Ph.D., is a writer and a history professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. When not in the classroom or the archives, she enjoys running marathons, hiking, drinking microbrews with her spouse, and snuggling with her beagle Bailey. She is the author of two history books and her creative work has recently appeared in Amethyst Review, Cirque, Longleaf Review, and West Texas Literary Review.