"I was glad to give voice to poetry about one of the most
painful experiences a woman can face. It is not an
Shange's words about abortion tapped a deep resonance
within me. I was 16 years old when I first read these words.
At the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts my
friend and classmate Gloria Williams felt compelled to dance
this poetry to life. She asked me to compose the music. The
music came to me instantaneously, as if a desperate woman
was singing this song right into my ear. The words, "and
nobody came, cuz nobody knew" still strike me. The
physical pain, the blood, the intense fear, the profound
loneliness in a keeping such an unbearable secret: this is a
trauma that maybe never heals. Like I said, it's not an
experience with which I am personally acquainted. But it
resonates deeply for me, not just because I'm a woman, but
because I'm a human being" - Zanaida Robles
