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

* * * * *

"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.