The Sunday Poem: “Nina As In Nina Simone” by Arya F. Jenkins

April 2nd, 2023

The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work.

Ms. Jenkins reads her poem at its conclusion.

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Painting of Nina Simone by Christel Roelandt

Nina As In Nina Simone

As a child Eunice crossed railroad tracks
To learn classical piano
Music being her language
Her access to other worlds
She became Nina Simone the performer
Aspiring to become a “rich black bitch”

Success came but with it
Depression, exhaustion and rage
She was pushed hard and beaten by her manager husband

But pain only serves the artist
To remind her of what is out there
That Nina was part of too–
The murders of four little black girls in Birmingham in ’63
Inspired her to become the first black, first female, first artist
To declare in song–
“Mississippi, goddamn!”

She joined the civil rights movement
Hoping to drive white people “insane” with her music
A matter of survival, she said
“How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?”

Staring down audiences like a mad woman
Nina demanded they bear witness to
Long-denied horrors

“They’re shooting us down one by one.
Don’t forget that because they are”

No matter the highs or lows
Music always flowed

Nina channeled the blues
Sometimes lulling
Sometimes pummeling people
Calling them out
In order to
Right history.

……………This narrative poem is informed by quotes and stories in What Happened, Miss Simone? the 2015 Netflix biographical documentary about the singer/artist’s life and art

Listen to Arya F. Jenkins read this poem

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photo by Theresa Patrick

Arya F. Jenkins is a Colombian-American poet and writer whose poems have appeared in many journals and zines, most recently Hawaii Pacific Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, and OyeDrum Magazine. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has been widely anthologized. She has also published poetry reviews in Cleaver Magazine, Cider Press Review, Rhino Poetry, The Poetry Cafe and Vol. 1 Brooklyn. In 2021, her poem “Ruin” was selected as a finalist for the Derick Burleson Poetry Prize by Choeofpleirn Press. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks, a short story collection, Blue Songs in an Open Key (Fomite Press, 2018), and a novel, Punk Disco Bohemian (NineStar Press, 2021).

[Editors Note: Several of Arya’s short stories were written for publication on Jerry Jazz Musician, and can be accessed by clicking here]

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Christel Roelandt is a Belgian painter from Ghent in Flanders. Her work focuses on the human form; faces and nudes, and she finds inspiration by all things beautiful and often by books, music and films.

Watch a 1965 film of Nina Simone perform “Mississippi Goddam”