Self-Portrait With Maize

The dog's leg infected with gusanos
dad put black grease on it

the leg healed like metallic gears
no more grinding

at least I thought that in my little head
dad on the John Deere tractor

far away in the fields
sharecropper extraordinaire

moviestar of the corn
dusty cotton conquistador

his dark Indian past
grabbing at the heels

the tearing out of human hearts
would have been right up his alley

the fields can be so glorious
in the wrong eyes

but I understand now
what no chingues conmigo means