Jennifer Fendya and Terah Van Dusen

Jennifer Fendya — “that kind of girl” — digital photo
Response

 

Terah Van Dusen
Inspiration Piece

The Way of a Woman

Once, early on
in our relationship
I shared a hotel room
with my man and four
of his buddies

There were two beds so
Steve and I got one, two
buddies shared one,
one slept upright in a chair,
and one fellow slept on the floor

Steve didn’t hardly touch me
at all that night
He was like that, respectful
(not of me but of his friends)

In the morning, I tip-toed out
the door into a barely-there
Portland springtime and in my
royal purple longcoat I
skipped down the road
for coffee and some
roll-your-own cigarettes.
I stopped to put a rose in my hair

I found a place for coffee and, with the help
of a cardboard holder, brought cups back
for Steve and each of his friends
I placed a cherry blossom into the
tic-tac sized hole where you
drank from

Then I offered it to them, feeling a little crazy
One of Steve’s friends told me:
Oh, you’re that kind of girl,
a compliment no doubt that
made me blush
but I couldn’t
make a peep
out of shyness
and in my head the
words were screaming:
I’m not a girl, I’m a woman!

but I didn’t say anything then
cause I didn’t want to
scare ‘em off

 

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