Lady in Orange
ever since I realized there waz someone callt a colored girl an evil woman a bitch or a nag i been tryin not to be that & leave bitterness in somebody else's cup/ come to somebody to love me without deep & nasty smellin scald from lye or bein left screaming in a street fulla lunatics/ whisperin slut bitch bitch niggas/ get outta here wit alla that/ i didnt have any of that for you/ i brought you what joy i found & i found joy/ honest fingers round my face/ with dead musicians on 78's from cuba/ or live musicians on five dollar lp's from chicago/ where i have never been/ & i love williw colon & arsenio rodriquez / especially cuz i can make the music loud enuf/ so there is no me but dance/ & when I can dance like that/ there's nothing cd hurt me/ but i get tired & i haveta come offa the floor & then there's that women who hurt you/ who you left/ three or four times/ & just went back/ after you put my heart in the bottom of yr shoe/ you just walked back to where you hurt/ & i didnt have nothing/ so i went to where somebody had somethin for me/ but he waznt you/ & i was on the way back from her house in the bottom of yr shoe/ so this is not a love poem/ cuz there are only memorial albums available/ & even charlie mingus wanted desperately to be a pimp/ & i wont be able to see eddie palmieri for months/ so this is a requium for myself/ cuz i have died in a real way/ not wid aqua coffins & du-wop cadillacs/ i used to joke abt when i waz messin round/ but a real dead lovin is here for you now/ cuz i had convinced myself colored girls had no right to sorrow/ & i lived & loved that way & kept sorrow on the curb/ allegedly for you/ but i know i did it for myself/ i cdnt stand it
i cdnt stand being sorry & colored at the same time
it's so redundant in the modern world
This passage is from the choreopoem by Ntozake Shange
For Colored Girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf
This poem has been performed numerous times on various stages and I didn't change a word of it if you have read the poem then you know that's exactly how it goes the poem is written in dialect, it has been adapted into a movie by Tyler Perry it is one of those books that you read and reread over and over again because there is understanding in between the words, and life in the powerful imagery and it is another voice giving voice to women over and over again. It's book like this that make me want to read more and more and read any and everything I can get my hands on and reaffirms my love of the written word time and time again. I personally have always wanted to hold discussions about books over coffee and with people who have read the same book and have a love of the written word like me so I have decided to start a digital book club on tumblr.com if you are interested in joining please hit me up either in the notes or by sending me an email to my gmail account.
