Ntozake Shange passed away in her sleep yesterday (October 27,2018) at the age of 70. She was a renowned playwright, poet, and novelist. Aside from the fact that she was born in my hometown Trenton, NJ, I remember Ntozake Shange most for her award-winning play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf.”
I love how she wrote in the vernacular that I could so easily read and understand. This made me feel like this book of poems was just for me…the words were so familiar the first time I picked it up to read it. My favorite from this choreopoem is from Lady in Green [excerpt]:
somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff
not my poems or a dance i gave up in the street
but somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff
like kleptomaniac working hard & forgettin while stealin
this is mine/ this aint yr stuff/
now why dont you put me back & let me hang out in my own self
somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff
& didnt care enuf to send a note home saying
i waz late for my solo conversation
or two sizes too small for my own tacky skirts
what can anybody do wit somethin of no value on
a open market/ did you getta dime for my things/
hey man/ where are you going wid alla my stuff/
this is a woman’s trip & i need my stuff/
Some additional works include:
Plays: Spell #7 (1979), Whitewash (1994), and Mother Courage and Her Children (1980).
Poetry: Nappy Edges (1978), From Okra to Greens (1984), and Wild Beauty (2017).
Novels: Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Betsey Brown (1985), and Liliane (1994).
And that’s just to name a few! Pick a title and go read it ASAP!
Rest in Peace Queen, you will be greatly missed.
ItsReallyRelle 