Ray Ball
After My Doctor Suggests Putting Me on Ozempic the Moon Waxes Full
Oh, Moon! No one ever calls you
Obese even in your most obscene
Fullness. I guess I am obstinate.
My scale doesn’t budge—or it
Moves in the wrong direction. Needle
Oscillating toward ogre rather
Than orchid. Oh, Moon! We both
Are the object and subject
Of others’ stories. Surface shine
To dark ochre penumbra. When
You wax, are you too told to leave
The loaf in the oven?
To eat only oranges or olives or
Organ meats of hummingbirds?
Ray Ball, PhD, currently lives on the land of the Dena’ina and is a professor and academic administrator at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She is the author of several books, including the poetry collection Trinities (Louisiana Literature Press, 2023). Ray’s poems and fiction have appeared in numerous journals, including Free State Review, Glass, Little Patuxent Review, and X-R-A-Y. Ray has received multiple nominations for Pushcart and been a Best of the Net finalist.