Somewhere Between Male and Female

Written and read by Joy Ladin

Somewhere between male and female
The soul gets lost
Where are you calls the mother of the soul
But the soul never had a mother

Get back here this instant the father demands
But somewhere between male and female
The soul failed to be fathered

Male and female
Split at the seams
Leaving the soul naked

Criss-crossed with scars
Male scars and female scars
Breast scars and testicle scars

Scars like doors
And scars like fingers
Fingers point at the naked soul

Doors slam in its face
No
The soul is still alone

It is is only dreaming
It’s been discovered
In the space between male and female

Where no one will ever find it

Listen to Joy Ladin’s On Being interview, “Finding a Home in Yourself.”

Joy Ladin is the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at the Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University in New York. Her memoir is called Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders. She’s also the author of nine collections of poetry and most recently published the book The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective. Listen to her On Being conversation, “Finding a Home in Yourself.”

Reflections