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
——— But he’s not part of that landscape…. We’re somewhere in flashing lights, green, red, gold, blue, like Christmas all the time. And we are the ones who can hear “Amame y besame, amor. Besame, amor, besame.” The light is so precious that the notion of high noon in South Texas is an affront to our senses. And off we go to bomba on a new floor. To mambo like a baptism or an oblation. Two swayin’ bronze bodies teasin’ the mornin’ sun that licks at us…our smiles curve cross our lips, maybe our smiles even curve across our hips.
———
——— Are you listenin’ to me?
——— Yes, of course.
——— You know what I like best?
——— No.
——— I like the way the white lace handkerchief is in his hand. He’s holdin’ his hand up in the air like this. See? This dash of white is just above his shoulder and draws my eyes to his. So I’m not even in my own body.
———
———
——— Where are you?
——— Our tongues fly like tropical flowers in a ciclón. I’ma treasure I can’t afford. I cannot even keep. That’s why I’m in his eyes, his eyes, or the air, very hot humid air. Somehow he manages to have me turn under myself. Like this, watch my arm. Yes, like that, but more delicately. And when I’m in perfect rhythm, I am his body and mine, moving through each other. Our nipples are the accents of some rhythm Mongo Santamaria or Pablo “Potato” Valdez would find irresistible. He says to me only, “Shimmy.”
———
——— I do….
———
——— I…do. I do and I blush. And I do dance with him.
———
——— But we just finished breakfast. It’s broad daylight. People are eating Sabrett’s frankfurters and bagels. Katz’s is open.
———
——— Well, can’t you see?
——— What am I missing?
——— They can’t really talk to me without signifiers or signs.
———
——— They can’t talk to me without preconditions, assured levels of literacy.
——— Yes.
——— Well, what I’m saying, what I mean to say is that he feeds me. Then, we dance.
———
——— He gives me fluffed rice, mangoes, and fried chicken. And we dance.
———
——— He ties my shoelaces and unties my bustier with his teeth. Did you know I hadda bustier?
——— No.
——— It’s black and rose lace with stays.
———
——— All I know is he feeds me and we dance. Why he even gives me tokens and we go somewhere else and dance. Sometimes we get transfers and find more places to mambo.
———
——— Now he’s helpin’ me perfect spins. Perfect spins. See, watch me.
———
———
——— That’s like mastering the “turn” of a phrase, don’t you think? So, I repeat, what’s missing in Paradise?
——— Well, I had this dream. Do we have time?
——— We’ve about seven minutes.