Self Portrait

Everyone says
She’s me.
The long haired nude
In the blue
Painting,
Kneeling.
Hands in her lap,
Facing
A strongman,
Also kneeling.
Bald,
His back
A rippled map
Of heaving
Her love and woe
Like sacks
Of dandelion seed.
No one knows
If his eyes are closed,
Or who he is,
Or guesses how
I am both.
Part silent sea
Of fish,
Part dark beach
Of skin.
Wild eater
Of weeds,
Sky-sown,
Root deep.

2012