"I found God in myself and I loved her, I loved her fiercely."
once in a long while, a film enrapts you not just from its subject matter, but from its novel employment of a metaphorical conceit which unifies the entire piece from start to end.
case in point, the colours of the rainbow and how each colour-character is a symbolic representation of different circumstances, but still all universally tied to not just their race, but more importantly gender.
film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's understated poetry
Having read her anthology eons ago, it was thrilling to see Tyler Perry's interpretation through a stellar cast ranging from Thandie Newton, Janet Jackson (looking creepily like her late brother -- must be the cosmetically-enhanced nose), Whoopi Goldberg and blast-from-the-past Phylicia Rashad (Mrs Cosby!). What is compelling about the entire journey of each character is that ultimately they all share that predicament of searching for a voice, to be acknowledged for who they are despite being shackled by an environment which is dominated by racial and gender prejudice. It's hard enough being a woman, being coloured is just another rung she has to traverse. think Toni Morrison's Beloved and Alice Walker's Colour Purple, only in 20 heart-rending poems.
With No Immediate Cause
every 3 minutes a woman is beaten
every five minutes a
woman is raped/every ten minutes
a lil girl is molested
yet i rode the subway today
i sat next to an old man who
may have beaten his old wife
3 minutes ago or 3 days/30 years ago
he might have sodomized his
daughter but i sat there
cuz the young men on the train
might beat some young women
later in the day or tomorrow
i might not shut my door fast
every 3 minutes it happens
some woman's innocence
rushes to her cheeks/pours from her mouth
like the betsy wetsy dolls have been torn
apart/their mouths
menses red & split/every
three minutes a shoulder
is jammed through plaster and the oven door/
chairs push thru the rib cage/hot water or
boiling sperm decorate her body
i rode the subway today
& bought a paper from a
man who might
have held his old lady onto
a hot pressing iron/i don't know
maybe he catches lil girls in the
park & rips open their behinds
with steel rods/i can't decide
what he might have done i only
know every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes every 10 minutes/so
i bought the paper
looking for the announcement
the discovery/of the dismembered
woman's body/the
victims have not all been
identified/today they are
naked and dead/refuse to
testify/one girl out of 10's not
coherent/i took the coffee
& spit it up/i found an
announcement/not the woman's
bloated body in the river/floating
not the child bleeding in the
59th street corridor/not the baby
broken on the floor/
there is some concern
that alleged battered women
might start to murder their
husbands & lovers with no
immediate cause"
i spit up i vomit i am screaming
we all have immediate cause
every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes
every 10 minutes
every day
women's bodies are found
in alleys & bedrooms/at the top of the stairs
before i ride the subway/buy a paper/drink
coffee/i must know/
have you hurt a woman today
did you beat a woman today
throw a child across a room
are the lil girl's panties
in yr pocket
did you hurt a woman today
i have to ask these obscene questions
the authorities require me to
establish
immediate cause
every three minutes
every five minutes
every ten minutes
every day.
riveting stuff. well it gives me more input as to how i want to design my lit syllabus next year. -stoked-
case in point, the colours of the rainbow and how each colour-character is a symbolic representation of different circumstances, but still all universally tied to not just their race, but more importantly gender.
Click to viewfilm adaptation of Ntozake Shange's understated poetry
Having read her anthology eons ago, it was thrilling to see Tyler Perry's interpretation through a stellar cast ranging from Thandie Newton, Janet Jackson (looking creepily like her late brother -- must be the cosmetically-enhanced nose), Whoopi Goldberg and blast-from-the-past Phylicia Rashad (Mrs Cosby!). What is compelling about the entire journey of each character is that ultimately they all share that predicament of searching for a voice, to be acknowledged for who they are despite being shackled by an environment which is dominated by racial and gender prejudice. It's hard enough being a woman, being coloured is just another rung she has to traverse. think Toni Morrison's Beloved and Alice Walker's Colour Purple, only in 20 heart-rending poems.
With No Immediate Cause
every 3 minutes a woman is beaten
every five minutes a
woman is raped/every ten minutes
a lil girl is molested
yet i rode the subway today
i sat next to an old man who
may have beaten his old wife
3 minutes ago or 3 days/30 years ago
he might have sodomized his
daughter but i sat there
cuz the young men on the train
might beat some young women
later in the day or tomorrow
i might not shut my door fast
every 3 minutes it happens
some woman's innocence
rushes to her cheeks/pours from her mouth
like the betsy wetsy dolls have been torn
apart/their mouths
menses red & split/every
three minutes a shoulder
is jammed through plaster and the oven door/
chairs push thru the rib cage/hot water or
boiling sperm decorate her body
i rode the subway today
& bought a paper from a
man who might
have held his old lady onto
a hot pressing iron/i don't know
maybe he catches lil girls in the
park & rips open their behinds
with steel rods/i can't decide
what he might have done i only
know every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes every 10 minutes/so
i bought the paper
looking for the announcement
the discovery/of the dismembered
woman's body/the
victims have not all been
identified/today they are
naked and dead/refuse to
testify/one girl out of 10's not
coherent/i took the coffee
& spit it up/i found an
announcement/not the woman's
bloated body in the river/floating
not the child bleeding in the
59th street corridor/not the baby
broken on the floor/
there is some concern
that alleged battered women
might start to murder their
husbands & lovers with no
immediate cause"
i spit up i vomit i am screaming
we all have immediate cause
every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes
every 10 minutes
every day
women's bodies are found
in alleys & bedrooms/at the top of the stairs
before i ride the subway/buy a paper/drink
coffee/i must know/
have you hurt a woman today
did you beat a woman today
throw a child across a room
are the lil girl's panties
in yr pocket
did you hurt a woman today
i have to ask these obscene questions
the authorities require me to
establish
immediate cause
every three minutes
every five minutes
every ten minutes
every day.
riveting stuff. well it gives me more input as to how i want to design my lit syllabus next year. -stoked-