A Fave Poem - No Assistance

This has always been one of my favorite poems.
It was written in 1974 (OMG! seems like yesterday).
It is part of a 64 page "choreopoem" by the poet Ntozake Shange (pronunciation: en-toe-zah-kay shan-jay) entitled
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf.


no assistance

without any assistance or guidance from you
i have loved you assiduously for 8 months 2 wks & a day
i have been stood up four times
i've left 7 packages on yr doorstep
forty poems 2 plants & 3 handmade notecards i left
town so i cd send to you

you have been no help to me
on my job
you call at 3:00 in the mornin on weekdays
so i cd drive 27 1/2 miles cross the bay before i go to work
charmin charmin
but you are of no assistance

i want you to know
this waz an experiment
to see how selfish i cd be
if i wd really carry on to snare a possible lover
if i waz capable of debasin my self for the love of another
if i cd stand not being wanted
when i wanted to be wanted
& i cannot
so
with no further assistance & no guidance from you
i am endin this affair

this note is attached to a plant
i've been watering since the day i met you
you may water it
yr damn self

— from for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, by Ntozake Shange

Love, Laughter, Peace and Blessings!La

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