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
Liliane and I, we see things. I haven’t really been anyplace, since, well, since Sawyer was murdered, was killt. Okay, I stopped. Now, listen to me. I have not been any goddamn where ’cept places Lili took me. Lili took me everywhere with her. I went to Haiti, Cuba, Taos, London, Aix-en-Provence, Matamoras, even New York City. I wish I knew where the yacht S. Bliss died on was. I’d take Lili there. Then we could have a real funeral and let her mama rest in peace, but I remember, now, wasn’t no boat or body, was a negress run off with a cracker is what. Yet and still, my Lili, my Liliane, shared anything and everyone she had with me. I ought to know, I’ve been here a long, long time. Gimme a second. All I have to do is dig down in these drawers a bit and you’ll see. Why here’s Liliane and that Granville character. Lemme set up on my bed, so I can relax a little. What I mean to say is that Lili sent me, actually sends me, drawings, photographs, papier-mâché images of who is in her life. She makes me feel like I was actually there, I could touch em, and smell em, and, sometimes, I love em: Lili’s friends, Lili’s nemesis, niggahs what kicked Lili’s ass, is what she let me experience with her.
My social workers chastise me constantly cause I line my walls, the walls of my room, with Lili’s drawings. “Why Miss Malveaux, you know you’ve never been any of these places; why you’ve never even been out of my sight for more than eight hours.” When my nurses talk like this, I don’t say anything cause they don’t know no better. Let me show you. That’s what Lili says, “Let me show you.”
See, looky here. There’s Rose Lynne, Roxie, Lollie, Bernadette, and me all straddling that Granville boy from somewhere outta here, you know what I mean. We are remarkable, ain’t we? Look at us. Just as fine as fine can be. Just as…susceptible to murder as anybody else. Awright, you wanna dispute me. Okay. Here’s Lili’s take on Roxie and Tony. All you gotta do is look at these drawings, okay? See, love.
Lili sent me these drawings with the following note: “Hey scrunch. I never saw people so in love before, I knew you’d want to know. It’s Roxie and some Cuban beau she found over here. My arms hurt, my back is bout to break, but we gonna bring in a sugar harvest to be talked about sho as you born. Love, Lili.”