Self-Portrait in 1969 (Summer)

The air will become me, and dirt
drawn up the veins
of the tomato vines will become me,
and the mother-ovum,
flowerless and hereditary,
is staked to a post in the garden.

But a worm finds its way.
And the Japanese beetles,
even while carrying the weariness
of another day,
arrive and feast on the leaves.

<SP