the precision and intensity of the moment," but then went on to criticize her style for being "distracting and predictable." In a 1980 addition to the foreword, Shange writes about one reviewer, who criticized her for writing "with intentions of outdoing the white man in the acrobatic distortions of English." In reply, Shange says that he "waz absolutely correct," she, in writing spell #7 aimed to "attack deform n maim the language that i waz taught to hate myself in...i haveta fix my tool to my needs/ i have to take it apart to the bone/ so that the malignancies/ fall away/ leaving us a space to literally create our own image." References External links Ntozake Shange Papers, 1966-2016; Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library, Barnard College. Plays about race and ethnicity African-American plays Plays by Ntozake Shange Literature by African-American women