Biding

June Rowe

Named Inky by his captors, with appealing
comparisons to human traits, feedings
timed to please the children’s flattened
faces squished against the glass,
on display, unable to fully spread
his suckered arms or mate, Inky captivates,
changing colors on cue, hugging his handlers,
considered affectionate by the onlookers,
merely biding his time, the octopus waits for night
oozes through a sliver on top the tank,
slithers across the wet tiles, scrunches
down the drain pipe leading back to the sea.