Quote:
Originally posted by man*****
this looks interesting.. janet w/ green eyes.. im led to believe this will be worthy of tyler's last gem, precious... what is it about??
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dark phrases
The play opens with seven women dressed in the colors of the rainbow plus brown, running onto the stage from various directions and then freezing in place. The spotlight picks out the lady in brown, who comes to life and performs the poem "dark phrases," which speaks of the trials of a young black girl growing into womanhood in America. The other six women chime in—after the lady in brown says "let her be born"—as being from "outside Chicago," "outside Detroit," "outside Houston," and so on. The melancholy mood shifts to a playful rendition of "mama's little baby loves shortnin" and dance ("let your backbone slip") and a game of freeze tag, which is interrupted by the next poem.
graduation nite
A theme of male assault combined with longing for male companionship is introduced, as the lady in yellow narrates, with some pride, how she lost her virginity in the back seat of a car. The other ladies
variously express their agreement with or disgust over her joy in the discovery of sex.
now i love somebody more than
Their discussion slides into this next poem, narrated by the lady in blue, who says she has Puerto Rican blood. Speaking some Spanish she describes her love of music and dancing and of the men who make music. The rest of the ladies softly join in saying "teammasque" ("Have you more than").
no assistance
The lady in red interrupts to tell that in spite of rebuffed love she continues to "debase herself for the love of another." But she ends in strength when she says "this note is attached to a plant/i've been waterin' since the day i met you/you may water it/ yr damn self." The lady in orange responds with a throwback to her desire for love and joy ("i wanna sing make you dance"). The rest of the ladies join in with "we gotta dance to keep from cryin," "we gotta dance to keep from dyin."
i'm a poet who
The dancing culminates in a declaration of pride in expression summed up by the lines, "hold yr head like it was a ruby sapphire/i'm a poet who writes in english/come to share worlds with you."
