Friday 6 April 2018


YIN

by Charles Rossiter


When I am a woman
I move down the street just so
I am aware of my body
and all the parts
fit together just so
the hair on my neck
is like a warm breath
when I am a woman
the light is longer for me
waiting to cross the street
I see the way cars slow down
when I am a woman
the first step out the door
is a double dutch dare
I am prepared to back up
I am determined
when I am a woman
I listen to the night
my sisters and I
look to the sky
my six senses work overtime
when I am a woman
I become dark
and move more slowly
I stay near water
there is music in my head
you might not know
I'm singing


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"Yin" was first published in Paterson Literary Review.

Charles Rossiter, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Recipient, hosts the twice- monthly podcast series at www.PoetrySpokenHere.com. His work has been featured on NPR’s “Poet and the Poem” and he’s taught and led workshops at literary festivals, senior centers, community organizations, libraries, prisons and schools throughout the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. During the 1990s he produced and hosted Poetry Motel, a cable television program seen on community access stations around the Northeast. His recent books include: All Over America: Road Poems; Winter Poems; Cold Mountain 2000: Han Shan in the City and Lakeside Poems.

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