For Maria Esther Mobili & Nina Simone

Both of them put up with fools
until they didn’t
and the sea that men parted
collapsed under their stares.
 
I don’t know if Nina 
would have liked 
my mother but
I know my mother
would have not
taken that kindly
 
They were both storms,
twin volcanoes ready
to level off Pompeii,
wounded birds
that made predators nervous,
firm,
sad,
flames,
hymns inside me,
long red fingernails,

unforgiving lava.

Published by Jerry Jazz Musician (2024)