November Poem-a-Day (#novpad)

Robert L. Brewer is hosting a 2010 November Poem-A-Day Challenge.

You know I'm all over that.

The habit of writing a poem-a-day is a great challenge to begin with, but if you participate with Robert there's an additional bonus. At the end you can send in 10-20 of the poems you wrote and get a chance of having your poems turned into a chapbook.

So how about it? Are you going to join in with me?

If you join in and are on Twitter, the official hashtag is #novpad.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 20

Did you miss Thursday's question? Click here.

Questions from "a laying on of hands" (pages 60-64):

1. What message do you think Shange was trying to send when she wrote this choreopoem?

2. Would you recommend this book?

3. Is this book just as relevant today as it was in the 1970s when it was written?

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Today is the last day. Thanks for participating in the discussion. Don't step on a cricket on your way out.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 19

Did you miss Wednesday's question? Click here.

Questions from "a nite with beau willie brown" (pages 55-60):

1. Crystal is the only lady to be named. Why?

2. How much do you think Crystal's experience with Beau Willie Brown affected the way the lady in red views love?

3. Did you have any compassion for Beau Willie Brown? Why?

Tanka Thursday #7

From inside my writer's notebook:

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 18

Did you miss Tuesday's questions? Click here.

Question from "sorry" (pages 52-54):

The lady in blue sounds like she's fed up with "alla the sorries" she's received. How close is she to the end of her rainbow?

*side note*

On the trailer of For Colored Girls, Janet is the lady in red and recites part of the poem in this section...um...?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 17

Did you miss Monday's question? Click here.

Questions from "somebody almost walk off wid alla my stuff" (pages 49-51):

1. The lady in green feels she was almost stolen, not in the kidnapping sense, but more like all the parts that make her the woman she is. How do you think she managed to keep all of her stuff?

2. Shange adds her name in this poem (and the meaning of Ntozake). Why do you think she added it?

3. Which of the ladies would be supportive of Tyler Perry creating a movie of their story? Which ones wouldn't?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 16

Did you miss Friday's questions? Click here.

Reeeeeejected #6

My latest casualty is from Redheaded Stepchild. It's almost funny that I got rejected from a poetry journal that only accepts poetry that has been rejected else where.

One positive thing though is that they said they enjoyed my poems that were inspired by January O'Neil and Evie Shockley.

Locomotion at The Kennedy Center

I'm excited because today is the opening day for Locomotion, a play adapted from Jacqueline Woodson's book of the same title. I loves me some Jacqueline Woodson, and Locomotion, a novel in verse, is the book that pushed me in the fan girl box. She's one of my in-my-head mentors.

It's not too late to get tickets!!!

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Update on the play

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I had on my chicken feathers and didn't dare say hello to Jacqueline Woodson after the play was over. Due to it being the first day - I assume - a little reception of sorts was held following the 4pm show. I meandered there for awhile, had a slice of cake, and watched many people cluster around Jacqueline (probably congratulating her on the success of the play). My nervousness got the best of me and I left, but not before grabbing another copy of Locomotion. She signed a bunch of books that were on sale in the lobby, so pretty soon you'll see a contest on my blog for someone to win this copy.

The play was fabulous. I'd definitely recommend you go see it.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 15

Did you miss Thursday's questions? Click here.

Tanka Thursday #6

kinds of nouns

nouns are so diverse
they can be plural, concrete,
collective, compound,
but my favorites are abstract
because they cannot be touched.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 14

Did you miss Wednesday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "no more love poems #2" (pages 43-44):

1. What myths is the lady in purple living with?

2. The lady in purple is opening herself up to love. What conversation might the lady in red have with her?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 13

Ooops! Just pretend that this is really day 13 of the For Colored Girls discussion.
************************************************************************

Did you miss Tuesday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "no more love poems #1" (pages 42-43):

1. The lady in orange is trying her best, to not be the "evil woman" other folks call her. How did this stereotype evolve? Do you make an effort to not fit this stereotype too?

2. Why is the lady in orange convinced "colored girls had no right to sorrow"?

3. What are your thoughts about the following quote "i cdnt stand bein sorry & colored at the same time/it's so redundant in the modern world"?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 12

Did you miss Monday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "pyramid" (pages 39-42):


1. The lady in purple and her friends meet a man they all find attractive. What is the best way to handle a situation like this?

2. The man chooses the lady in purple, but soon chases after her friends, who reject him. She wonders how long her friends will continue to hold out, knowing it's inevitable. Is she a realist or pessimistic, or something else? Why?

3. Are the two ladies in the lady in purple's pyramid true friends?

4. How does the man in the poem know that all he has to do is bide his time and that he can have the lady in purple's friends as his next flavor?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 11

Did you miss Friday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "i used to live in the world" (pages 36-39):

1. How has living in Harlem shrunk the lady in blue's universe?

2. The lady in blue says being "nice is such a rip-off." Do you agree with her? Why?

3. Lady in blue doesn't want to meet a young Black man "in the dark." Do you think her concerns are valid?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 10

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "one" (pages 31-36):

1. This poem is the first one Shange wrote and the first line "orange butterflies & aqua sequins" inspired the title of the book. Do you think Shange has a special connection with the lady in red since she was the first lady to speak to her?

2. Why do you think the lady in red wants to be desired by so many men, but doesn't appear to want any of them for more than a night? Where does her sadness stem from?

3. What are your thoughts about these lines? "she waz the wrath/of women in windows/fingerin shades/ol lace curtains/camoflagin despair &/stretch marks"

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 9

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "toussaint" (pages 25-30):

Tanka Thursday #5

Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence
is way too long, it needs a
period or a
conjunction. Semi-colons
work, if you're feeling fancy.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 8

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "sechita" (pages 23-25):

1. The format of this poem is (significantly) different from the rest. What do you think Shange's purpose was in creating this change?
2. What is the mood of "sechita"? How does Sechita feel about being a carnival dancer?
3. Shange discusses "quadroon balls," "mulattos," and "half-caste" (even "colored" in the title of the book. Terms like these at the time Shange wrote this story were becoming outdated and offensive to some. What do you think Shange's message is by including these terms?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 7

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "abortion cycle #1" (pages 21-23):

1. Why do you think Shange named this poem "abortion cycle #1" without including a #2? Is there something the lady in blue isn't telling us?
2. Whose eyes does the lady in blue want "offa" her and why?
3. What are your thoughts about these lines "metal horses gnawin my womb/dead mice fall from my mouth"?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 6

Did you miss Friday's questions? Click here.

Questions from "latent rapists'" (pages 16-21):

1. The stereotype that a rapist must be a stranger is discussed by the ladies. Do you think people still hold on to that same stereotype today? Why?
2. Do these "latent rapists'" feel as if they are violating these women?
3. Why have these ladies of the rainbow considered suicide?
4. This poem doesn't have any music to accompany it. Was that purposeful or coincidence in your opinion? If you could add some, what would you choose?

Tina Green by Elizabeth Alexander

I'm going to read you a poem, and if you want the poem click here.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 5

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions for Friday (from pages 14-16):

1. How do the music references affect your reading of the poem(s)?
2. The lady in orange is joined on stage by all, except for the ladies in blue and green. Why?
3. Lady in orange says she from "outside of st. louis," but is currently in nyc? What is that about?
4. Do you read the gaps of space differently than a line break, slash, or comma?
5. If you could pick any living poet to be in the role of the lady in orange, who would it be?

Tanka Thursday #4

Sentence Fragments

It's missing something
a subject, a predicate
or it's missing both
stop writing sentence fragments
by remembering these rules

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 4

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions for Thursday (from pages 13-14):

1. How would you characterize the lady in red's feelings about love?
2. If someone were to love you the way the lady in red loves, what would be your reaction?
3. Which rainbow lady do you identify with the most?

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 3

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions for Wednesday (from pages 10-13):

1. What are your initial reactions to the lady in blue?
2. How do you think the lady in blue would describe her ethnic background?
3. Did you have to look up any of the people the lady in blue mentions? Which ones?
4. All the ladies chant "te amo mas que." What significance does it have?
5. Do you have a favorite line (or lines) from this section? Quote them.

For Colored Girls Discussion: Day 2

Did you miss yesterday's questions? Click here.

Questions for Tuesday (from pages 7-10):

1. The stage directions for this poem mention dances like "the pony" and "the big boss line." Have you seen those dances before?
2. Why do you think the ladies aren't given names?
3. Was the lady in yellow's V status abnormal for 18 (in 1960s)?
4. How does Shange's spelling of certain words (i.e. cd for could) help/hinder your reading of the poem?
5. What made the lady in yellow feel grown? Do you agree with her?

For Colored Girls Discussion

Monday, October 4th marks the first day of a Twitter Bookclub discussion of for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf.

We will be discussing one poem a day, Monday-Friday, for the entire month of October. The hashtag we will use is: #ForColoredGirls. This is also the same hashtag people are using to talk about the movie version of the book that comes out this November.

I can't promise I'll do this everyday, but for the first day of the discussion, here are the questions we'll discuss.

1. The book was first published in 1974. When did you first read the book?

2. Shange incorporates (forward) slashes in this poem and other ones. How do you read them?

3. On page 4, Shange writes about a black girl's song being silenced. Have black girl's begun to "sing" in 2010? Who silenced black girl's in the first place?

4. A typical rainbow has red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Shange's rainbow included brown. What do you think the author's purpose was for adding brown to her rainbow?

5. What are your thoughts about this quote "...this is for colored girls who have considered suicide/but moved to the ends of their own rainbows"?

Please join in the discussion on Twitter, or you can leave comments here.