Nina Simone

and a mood disorder

Today’s post is a poem I wrote at university.

I wrote this poem about Nina Simone, but really it is about craving representation. I wrote it with bipolar disorder in mind, and the shifts in form are deliberate, moving between manic intensity and flatter, heavier stretches.

Nina was a figure through which I could write about the need to see your own mind reflected somewhere outside yourself.

Paid subscribers can read the full poem below.