The two fabulous Ns
(Nina Simone and New Orleans)

Irina Vladi Levis

Nina’s ‘sugar in my bowl’ sings
Sway and cling to the music
Like clothes on a damp day
To the clothes line
I hear the beat of old time jazz
In my head
Singing my bones to rest
In darkness I smoke
Satisfy my decadence
In southern comfort
Of this night
Beignets in my belly
And you on my lap
My mouth tastes sweet
In sweetness
Despite the cigarettes
I feel like some other
Of another time
Of another color
For this night
I want enormous breasts
And children to feed
Sweetness in my belly
Sweat on my brow
I feel slow
And sweet
In perfect night
Stumbling the square
Resting in the clingy
Honey of the night
Thick with death
And it’s spirits
Find myself
On all fours
Where no one is around
Swaying and clinging to the music
Somewhere else
‘Sugar in my bowl’
Sweetness down below

Irina Vladi Levis is a student at Santa Monica College