Chapters (31)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Room in the Dark I
- Fawns of the Diaspora Court Liliane in Paris, While Tabou Combo Whispers “Coq Qualité” in Her Ears
- Room in the Dark II
- “I Usedta Drink, Smoke and Do the Hoochie-Koo,” or What’s a Girl to Do When Her Mother Looks Like Ruth Brown
- Room in the Dark III
- “El Bochinche” es que only Fe Cortijo Knows or All the LeBron Brothers Know If Victor-Jésus María Sang Lili to Her Freedom
- Room in the Dark IV
- And Where Is Garnett Mimms?
- Room in the Dark V
- I Know Where Kansas City Is, But Did Wilbert Harrison Ever Get There?
- Room in the Dark VI
- Zoom Went the Strings of Liliane’s Heart, But Arsenio Rodriguez Could Have Told Her the Music Sounds Just as Sweet When We’re Blind and Still We See
- Room in the Dark VII
- I Know Where the E Train Stops But I’m “Sendin’ Out an S.O.S.” and I’m Not Edwin Starr Either
- Room in the Dark VIII
- “Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby” or Wouldn’t It Be Great If the Lead Singer of The Crests Wasn’t a White Boy and I Could Be My Mother?
- Room in the Dark IX
- Every Time My Lil World Seems Blue, I Just Haveta Look at You and Learn Eye-Hand Coordination
- Room in the Dark X
- “That’s Why I Love Her So and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I Want to Know” or Why Jackie Wilson Died in Silence
- Room in the Dark XI
- There’s No Use Cryin’ “Forever” or Hyacinthe Returns from a Very Blue Holiday for Real B(l)ack at Ya
- Room in the Dark XII
- Lollie Struts Her Stuff Thru “The Sea of Love” or the Brides of Frankenstein Catch the Bouquet
- By Ntozake Shange
- Acknowledgments
- Copyright
——— I know that. I know all that, but now they’re gonna take Sierra from me, too. After all this, they’re gonna take her….
——— Why do you think you are crying so, Lili?
——— Cause they’re gonna take my baby, my beautiful Sierra. They’re gonna take her like nothin’ happened.
——— But whose baby was wrenched from her mother’s arms?
——— Roxie’s.
——— Roxie’s, R. C. Golightly’s, and S. Bliss.
——— What has she got to do with this? Roxie never left me or betrayed me. How can you mention her name in the same breath as my best friend and her mother! Have you lost your mind?
——— No, Lili, you lost your mother.
——— So?
——— Some of this pain, a good deal of the pain you are feeling now, as you prepare Sierra to go to her grandparents, is justifiably your own. In Sierra you have “lil Lili” who can be guided by you, the adult Lili, through the dense and haunting loss the death of Roxie presents, in a way that was impossible for you as “baby” Lili…. Do you understand?
——— You mean I can’t help her?
——— No. That’s not what I’m saying. You can help her…. You simply have to know that that is what you are doing.
——— Wha—What about me, then? How can I help…me? Who are these “lil Lilies” and “baby Lilies”? I’m a big grown woman, what in the hell can I do for a “lil” me and a “baby” me?
——— A lot. There’s a lot you can do.
——— Like what?
——— For one thing, we can take better care of lil Lili.
——— We could do that?
——— Yes.
——— That’s really good cause I lost all the babies last night.
——— You lost Sierra?
——— Yes. I lost Sierra. I lost Sierra and another lil one, too.
——— How did this happen, Liliane?