For Colored Girls

The poem below is from the movie “For Coloured Girls”, it speaks to me, it speaks to my soul. It tells a story of how women can love the wrong man, how women can give themselves entirely to a man who wont recognise let alone appreciate  what he has been given, instead he will “walk off with all her stuff”….

The bold bits are favorites. Enjoy…

The cast

“Somebody almost walked off with all of my stuff!
And dint care enough to send a note home saying
I was late for my own solo conversation
Or two sizes too small for my own tacky skirts
What can anybody do with something of no value on an open market?
Did you get a dime for my things?
Hey man! Where are you going with all of my stuff?!
This is a woman tripping!
I need my stuff to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ about
Honest to God, somebody almost ran off with all of my stuff
And I dint bring anything but the kick and sway of it;
The perfect ass for my man and none of it is theirs!
This is mine! Tarie’s own things
That’s my name.
Now give me my stuff!!

I see you hiding my laugh
And how I sit sometimes with my legs open to give my crotch some sunlight
This is some delicate leg and whimsical kiss
I have got to have to give to my choice
So you can’t have me unless I give me away
And I was doing all that till you ran off from a good thing

And who is this you left me with?
Some simple bitch with a bad attitude!
I want my things. I want my own with the hot iron scar
I want my leg with the flea bag
I want my things!
I want my calloused feet and quick language back in my mouth
I want my own things how I love them

Somebody almost ran off with all of my stuff and I was just standing there looking at my stuff the whole time!
It wasn’t a spirit that ran off with my stuff,
It was a man whose ego walked around like Rodham’s shadow
It was a man faster than my innocence
It was a lover I made too much room for
I almost ran off with all my stuff
And the one running with it don’t know he got it
Am shouting, “This is mine!” and he doesn’t even know he got it!
My stuff is the anonymous ‘ripped off treasure of the year’
Do you know somebody almost got away with me?
Me, in a plastic bag under his arm
Me, Tarie, somebody almost walked off with all of my stuff.”