For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
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Table of Contents
About The Book
From its inception in California in 1974 to its Broadway revival in 2022, the Obie Award–winning for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has excited, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the country for nearly fifty years. Passionate and fearless, Shange’s words reveal what it meant to be a woman of color in the 20th century.
First published in 1975, when it was praised by The New Yorker for “encompassing…every feeling and experience a woman has ever had,” for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf will be read and performed for generations to come. Now with new introductions by Jesmyn Ward and Broadway director Camille A. Brown, and one poem not included in the original, here is the complete text of a groundbreaking dramatic prose poem that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.
Excerpt
The stage is in darkness. Harsh music is heard as dim blue lights come up. One after another, seven women run onto the stage from each of the exits. They all freeze in postures of distress. The follow spot picks up the lady in brown. She comes to life and looks around at the other ladies. All of the others are still. She walks over to the lady in red and calls to her. The lady in red makes no response.
lady in brown
dark phrases of womanhood
of never havin been a girl
half-notes scattered
without rhythm/no tune
distraught laughter fallin
over a black girl's shoulder
it's funny/it's hysterical
the melody-less-ness of her dance
don't tell nobody don't tell a soul
she's dancin on beer cans & shingles
this must be the spook house
another song with no singers
lyrics/no voices
& interrupted solos
unseen performances
are we ghouls?
children of horror?
the joke?
don't tell nobody don't tell a soul
are we animals? have we gone crazy?
i can't hear anythin
but maddening screams
& the soft strains of death
& you promised me
you promised me...
somebody/anybody
sing a black girl's song
bring her out
to know herself
to know you
but sing her rhythms
carin/struggle/hard times
sing her song of life
she's been dead so long
closed in silence so long
she doesn't know the sound
of her own voice
her infinite beauty
she's half-notes scattered
without rhythm/no tune
sing her sighs
sing the song of her possibilities
sing a righteous gospel
let her be born
let her be born
& handled warmly.
lady in brown
i'm outside chicago
lady in yellow
i'm outside detroit
lady in purple
i'm outside houston
lady in red
i'm outside baltimore
lady in green
i'm outside san francisco
lady in blue
i'm outside manhattan
lady in orange
i'm outside st. louis
lady in brown
& this is for colored girls who have considered suicide
but moved to the ends of their own rainbows.
everyone
mama's little baby likes shortnin, shortnin,
mama's little baby likes shortnin bread
mama's little baby likes shortnin, shortnin,
mama's little baby likes shortnin bread
little sally walker, sittin in a saucer
rise, sally, rise, wipe your weepin eyes
an put your hands on your hips
an let your backbone slip
o, shake it to the east
o, shake it to the west
shake it to the one
that you like the best
lady in purple
you're it
As the lady in brown tags each of the other ladies they freeze. When each one has been tagged the lady in brown freezes. Immediately "Dancing in the Streets" by Martha and the Vandellas is heard. All of the ladies start to dance. The lady in green, the lady in blue, and the lady in yellow do the pony, the big boss line, the swim, and the nose dive. The other ladies dance in place.
lady in yellow
it was graduation nite & i waz the only virgin in the crowd
bobby mills martin jerome & sammy yates eddie jones & randi
all cousins
all the prettiest niggers in this factory town
carried me out wit em
in a deep black buick
smellin of thunderbird & ladies in heat
we rambled from camden to mount holly
laughin at the afternoon's speeches
& danglin our tassles from the rear view mirror
climbin different sorta project stairs
movin toward snappin beer cans &
GET IT GET IT THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT MAMA
all mercer county graduated the same nite
cosmetology secretarial pre-college autoshop & business
all us movin from mama to what ever waz out there
that nite we raced a big ol truck from the barbeque stand
trying to tell him bout the party at jacqui's
where folks graduated last year waz waitin to hit it wid us
i got drunk & cdnt figure out
whose hand waz on my thigh/but it didn't matter
cuz these cousins martin eddie sammy jerome & bobby
waz my sweethearts alternately since the seventh grade
& everybody knew i always started cryin if somebody actually
tried to take advantage of me
at jacqui's
ulinda mason was stickin her mouth all out
while we tumbled out the buick
eddie jones waz her lickin stick
but i knew how to dance
it got soo hot
vincent ramos puked all in the punch
& harly jumped all in tico's face
cuz he was leavin for the navy in the mornin
hadda kick ass so we'd all remember how bad he waz
seems like sheila & marguerite waz fraid
to get their hair turnin back
so they laid up against the wall
lookin almost sexy
didnt wanna sweat
but me & my fellas
we waz dancin
since 1963 i'd won all kinda contests
wid the cousins at the POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE DANCES
all mercer county knew
any kin to martin yates cd turn somersaults
fore smokey robinson cd get a woman excited
The Dells singing "Stay" is heard
we danced
doin nasty ol tricks
The lady in yellow sings along with the Dells for a moment. The lady in orange and the lady in blue jump up and parody the lady in yellow and the Dells. The lady in yellow stares at them. They sit down.
doin nasty ol tricks i'd been thinkin since may
cuz graduation nite had to be hot
& i waz the only virgin
so i hadda make like my hips waz inta some business
that way everybody thot whoever was gettin it
was a older man cdnt run the streets wit youngsters
martin slipped his leg round my thigh
the dells bumped "stay"
up & down-up & down the new carver homes
WE WAZ GROWN
WE WAZ FINALLY GROWN
ulinda alla sudden went crazy
went over to eddie cursin & carryin on
tearin his skin wid her nails
the cousins tried to talk sense to her
tried to hold her arms
lissin bitch sammy went on
bobby whispered i shd go wit him
fore they go ta cuttin
fore the police arrived
we teetered silently thru the parkin lot
no un uhuh
we didn't know nothin bout no party
bobby started lookin at me
yeah
he started looking at me real strange
like i waz a woman or somethin/
started talkin real soft
in the backseat of that ol buick
WOW
by daybreak
i just cdnt stop grinnin.
The Dells singing "Stay" comes in and all of the ladies except the lady in blue join in and sing along.
lady in blue
you gave it up in a buick?
lady in yellow
yeh, and honey, it was wonderful.
lady in green
we used to do it all up in the dark
in the corners...
lady in blue
some niggah sweating all over you.
lady in red
it was good!
lady in blue
i never did like to grind.
lady in yellow
what other kind of dances are there?
lady in blue
mambo, bomba, merengue
when i waz sixteen i ran off to the south bronx
cuz i waz gonna meet up wit willie colon
& dance all the time
mamba bomba merengue
lady in yellow
do you speak spanish?
lady in blue
ol&$224;
my papa thot he was puerto rican & we wda been
cept we waz just reglar niggahs wit hints of spanish
so off i made it to this 36 hour marathon dance
con salsa con ricardo
'suggggggggggar' ray on southern blvd
next door to this fotografi place
jammed wit burial weddin & communion relics
next door to la real ideal genuine spanish barber
up up up up up stairs & stairs & lotsa hallway
wit my colored new jersey self
didn't know what anybody waz saying
cept if dancin waz proof of origin
i was jibarita herself that nite
& the next day
i kept smilin & right on steppin
if he cd lead i waz ready to dance
if he cdnt lead
i caught this attitude
i'd seen rosa do
& wd not be bothered
i waz twirlin hippin givin much quik feet
& bein a mute cute colored puerto rican
til saturday afternoon when the disc-jockey say
'SORRY FOLKS WILLIE COLON AINT GONNA MAKE IT TODAY'
& alla my niggah temper came outta control
& i wdnt dance wit nobody
& i talked english loud
& i love you more than i waz mad
uh huh uh huh
more than more than
when i discovered archie shepp & subtle blues
doncha know i wore out the magic of juju
heroically resistin being possessed
oooooooooooooh the sounds
sneakin in under age to slug's
to stare ata real 'artiste'
& every word outta imamu's mouth waz gospel
& if jesus cdnt play a horn like shepp
waznt no need for colored folks to bear no cross at all
& poem is my thank-you for music
& i love you more than poem
more than aureliano buendia loved macondo
more than hector lavoe loved himself
more than the lady loved gardenias
more than celia loves cuba or graciela loves el son
more than the flamingoes shoo-do-n-doo-wah love bein pretty
oyeè neégro
te amo mas que te amo mas que
when you play
yr flute
everyone (very softly)
te amo mas que te amo mas que
lady in red
without any assistance or guidance from you
i have loved you assiduously for 8 months 2 wks & a day
i have been stood up four times
i've left 7 packages on yr doorstep
Copyright © 1975, 1976, 1977 by Ntozake Shange
Reading Group Guide
includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
Introduction
First published in 1975 and praised by The New Yorker for “encompassing…every feeling a woman has ever had,” For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf uses a complement of female narrators to examine what it is like to be of color and female in America. More than thirty-five years after its inception, the Obie-Award winning For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf continues to be read and performed around the country and throughout the world.
In her new introduction to the work, Ntozake Shange reflects on the legacy of her best-known work: “For Colored Girls still is a women’s trip, and the connection we can make through it, with each other and for each other, is to empower us all.”
Topics and Questions for Discussion
- How does “dark phrases,” the opening poem of For Colored Girls…, evoke the psychological states of the many narrators of the work in these lines: “she’s half-notes scattered/ without rhythm/ no tune/ sing her sighs/ sing the song of her possibilities…”? (p. 5) How might the phrase: “sing the song of her possibilities,” allude to Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself…”? In what ways is For Colored Girls… a celebration of the women it profiles.
- In “graduation nite,” the speaker loses her virginity in a Buick the same night as her high school graduation. To what extent does her ecstatic embrace of adulthood in lines like: “WE WAZ GROWN WE WAZ FINALLY GROWN,” both hint at her innocence, and at its loss? (p. 9) Of the two rites of passage detailed in this poem, which seems to affect the poem’s speaker, the lady in yellow, more profoundly, and why?
- How does the end of an affair narrated by the lady in red in “no assistance,” capture the pathos of a romantic break-up: “this note is attached to a plant/ i’ve been watering since the day i met you/ you may water it/ yr damn self.” (p. 14) How does the disappointed lady in red fit into the spectrum of ‘colored girls’ Shange profiles in this work?
- How does the author’s juxtaposition of a poem about rape, “latent rapists,” (pp. 17-21) with a poem about abortion, “abortion cycle #1” (p. 22-23) highlight the sexual vulnerabilities and dangers faced by many of her female speakers? How does the sequence of poems up to this point in For Colored Girls… establish a narrative of sexual awakening, sexual experience, and sexual anguish? To what extent do you think the author intends this series of events to be representative of the experience of women of color more generally?
- How does the appearance of Sechita in the poem of the same name change the direction of the narrative in For Colored Girls…? (p. 23) How did this shift impact you as a reader? To what extent is Sechita a sympathetic figure?
- In the poem, “toussaint,” the lady in brown describes an incident from childhood where she was disqualified from winning a library contest held for a “colored child” who could “read 15 books in three weeks” because she rhapsodized about a book from the adult reading room about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture. (pp. 25-30) How does this poem comment on racial inequality both directly and indirectly? How does the narrator’s chance encounter with Toussaint Jones enable her to move beyond her obsession with L’Ouverture?
- In the poem, “pyramid,” about three girlfriends and the one man they all desire: “we all saw him at the same time/ & he saw us,” how would you characterize the author’s depiction of female friendship? (pp. 39-42) How does the male romantic interest in “pyramid” compare to the author’s other depictions of boys and men in For Colored Girls…?
- How does the sequence of four “no more love poems” (pp. 42-48) connect to the visions of romantic love developed in For Colored Girls…? Why does each of the speakers of the “no more love poems” reject love, and what do their rejections suggest about the kinds of love they are offered in return?
- How do the poems “somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff” (pp. 49-51) and “sorry” (pp. 52-55) seem to be in dialogue with each other? What do both poems have in common? How does the author’s decision to blur the boundaries between poems impact your sense of the progress of the narrative as a whole? Given that For Colored Girls… is meant to be performed, how might this blurring of transitions be strategic?
- How does the relationship between Crystal and Beau Willie depicted in “a nite with beau willie brown” (pp. 55-60) capture the terror of domestic violence? How does the author’s decision to end the poem with Crystal’s line: “but I cd only whisper/ & he dropped em,” emphasize the powerlessness of the victims of domestic violence?
- For Colored Girls… has elicited criticism from some male readers who feel that they are unfairly stereotyped in the work as abusive or violent by virtue of their sex. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this critique? Why might the author have chosen to explore the darker side of relationships between women and men in this work, and how does her decision affect your understanding of the gender divide in our culture?
- “Positive” is one of the poems that has been added to this edition of For Colored Girls… How does this new poem carry the book into the twenty-first century?
- Of the many poems in For Colored Girls…, which did you find most powerful and why? The title of the collection alludes to colored women who have considered suicide. What part, if any, does suicide seem to play in the scenarios described in the individual poems?
- Stage a dramatic reading of For Colored Girls…. Decide as a group how much of the poem will be performed and assign each member of your book club a role, such as “lady in red” or “lady in brown.” You might consider inviting friends or family members as an audience. After the presentation, discuss with your group how the emotional impact of the work changes when it is performed.
- Which of the rites of passage and femininity explored in For Colored Girls… did you feel resonated most closely with your own life experiences? Which of the narrators did you feel most closely aligned with and why? Did any of the lines in the work as a whole ring especially true to you? Which ones? You may want to share your findings and compare experiences with fellow book club members.
- For Colored Girls… is a choreopoem, a work that combines poetry and dance as a unique literary genre. If you were to write a choreopoem about some aspect of your life experiences, what time periods would you focus on? What moments in your life have shaped you most indelibly? Who would you cast in the chorus of “back-up” voices who would support this rendering of your life? Try writing a choreopoem about a special event in your life and share with your reading group members.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (September 1, 1997)
- Length: 80 pages
- ISBN13: 9780684843261
Raves and Reviews
"Extraordinary and wonderful...Ntozake Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anyone can relate to her message." -The New York Times
"Celebrates the capacity to master pain and betrayals with wit, sister-sharing, reckless daring, and flight and forgetfulness if necessary. She celebrates most of all women's loyalties to women." -Toni Cade Bambara, Ms. Magazine
"These poems and prose selections are...rich with the author's special voice: by turns bitter, funny, ironic, and savage; fiercely honest and personal." -New York Post
"Ntozake Shange's extraordinary "choreopoem"...is a dramatic elegy for black women with an undercurrent message for everyone. Its theme is not sorrow...but courage. Its strength is its passion and its reality....An unforgettable collage of one woman's view of the women of her race, facing everything from rape to unrequited love....Wisdom and naivete go hand in hand. Wounds and dream intermingle; strong passions melt into simple courage." -L.I. Press/Newhouse Newspapers
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