Sequence Three Summary

These next poems are longer, individual story poems, each narrated by one of the ladies.

In Poem Seven, the lady in purple tells the story of a New Orleans carnival dancer named Sechita. As the lady in green dances in time to words and images, the lady in purple tells how Sechita dresses herself and makes herself up, imagining she's attending one of the balls for mixed race young people in St. Louis. In the background is the noise of a wrestling match at the carnival. When the match is over, Sechita goes out and dances for the men in the audience, who throw gold coins at her.

In Poem Eight, the lady in brown tells about reading her way through the children's section of the library, discovering stories about Toussaint L'Ouverture in the adult section. This was the first time...