The egg that will be me is already there
in the ovary of the unborn child
in the belly of the woman
behind the counter at “Stan’s Plaice.”

Russian dolls.

Not the full proto-doll, though.
This egg will contain
twenty-three chromosomes.
Half of the pieces in the jigsaw.

“Fish and chips twice, love.”

The scale of things is something to consider.
Andromeda, two million light years away
and retreating.

The egg.
A tiny dot.
A jot of protoplasm.

Related information

© Anne Osbourn 2007. This is one of the pieces of poetry from an upcoming collection entitled Looking Up.

Read previous pieces from Looking Up published on LabLit:
Threads • Illusions • Spinning

Professor Anne Osbourn leads a research team at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK, studying the molecular basis of plant disease and defense. You can read more about her research here.

She was also awarded a NESTA fellowship to engage children with science via poetry.