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 went off with Jean-René, see there he is, as black as a delta berry, but his folks didn’t want my Lili cause wasn’t no “color” pedigree on her. Lili was same for them as she was for us, a colored gal strange looking and no more likely to give up the black in her than she’d give up her soul. So she stopped drawing pictures of him, though he must have been a beauty, must’ve been. Then, I’ve got these old Polaroids of Danny and his new wife, old wife by now. Lili sent me drawings of his hands on her legs, how he kissed her without ever really touching her. Well, that’s what she said. Besides the drawings from Rose Lynne’s wedding to the SONY executive and Granville’s inauguration as prime minister of somewhere don’t even approach the grandeur of Bernadette’s wedding to that king from Swaziland or Togo, or Botswana. They think I’m crazy, but Liliane and Victor-Jésus actually secreted indepentisto fugitives in their house. In their house? That’s a federal crime. That means I’ve gotta admit there are more niggahs speak Portuguese than English. What am I gonna do about that? What am I gonna do about that? I don’t know. I repeat, I don’t know, but I do know Lili can draw all this, all plain and clear for me and you. I know that. Lili can paint my craziness. She can paint it, build it, hammer and beat it outta nothin’. We came from outta nowhere and my friend, Liliane, can make that somewhere I could go home to. Whenever I want, anytime I want. Zoom really loved her, I think. Victor-Jésus loved her. S. Bliss probably loved her too, but I’ve gotta look through these watercolors, before I say. Oh hell, I loved Liliane, too: loved, cared, cherished, adored, craved, desired, blessed, yes, blessed. We all were blessed, to have the privilege to love her, Liliane, anybody’s colored child, anybody’s daughter, just like me. Stop. Stop. You are too close.
Room in the Dark XII
——— I really want to clear something up today. I can’t quite figure this out. I really can’t.
———
——— Oh, it’s going to be another one of those days, huh?
——— What sort of a day do you mean, Liliane?
——— The kind of day that means I talk-talk and you peruse, contemplate, and don’t open your mouth to say a thing: that kind.
——— Oh, but Lili, if you talk-talk we can probably clear up some of what’s puzzling you.
——— I certainly hope so. I’ve been feeling conflicted, or afflicted, as my grandma might’ve said.
———