Books › For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf
For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf
First published 1975 · 116 pages
A visceral, rhythmic explosion of pain and triumph that dances through the shared soul of Black womanhood.
What it feels like
Reading this choreopoem feels like sitting in a sacred, electrifying circle of sisterhood where every unspoken pain is finally given voice. The pacing is propulsive, driven by a rhythmic, vernacular poetry that demands to be read aloud, moving seamlessly between devastating sorrow and fierce, defiant joy. Shange creates a mood that is intensely intimate yet universally resonant, wrapping the reader in an atmosphere of raw vulnerability and ultimate catharsis. The text does not just sit on the page; it dances, bleeds, and sings, capturing the visceral reality of surviving at the intersection of racism and misogyny. It is a profoundly moving experience for anyone who craves literature that shatters silence, offering a triumphant reclamation of self-worth and the healing power of shared truth.
- Mood
- electrifying
- intimate
- cathartic
- sorrowful
- triumphant
- Tone
- fierce
- vulnerable
- defiant
- raw
- celebratory
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- Black womanhood · sisterhood and solidarity · surviving trauma · reclaiming self-worth · intersectional oppression
- The writing
- Rhythmic, vernacular, and deeply visceral, blending poetry, music, and spoken word into a unique, kinetic structure.
- The arc
- Moves from profound isolation and trauma through shared grief into a triumphant, spiritual reclamation of self and sisterhood.
- Who it's for
- Readers seeking raw, transformative poetry that centers the unfiltered experiences, pain, and joy of Black women.
Content notes
- sexual assault
- domestic violence
- child death
- racism
- suicidal ideation
About the book
First published in 1975, Shange's choreopoem has been read and performed because it truly revealed what it meant to be of color and female in the twentieth century. Here is the complete text, with stage directions of the dramatic prose poem that resonates with unusual beauty in its fierce message to the world.
Description from Open Library.
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