by Nora Jay

“‘The last person to touch it was Nina Simone’: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis on an old piece of chewing gum”
—The Guardian

“You Took My Teeth”
—Nina Simone

The last one to touch it was Nina Simone:
Its surface was mumbled by Nina alone!
You’ll have to find sugar elsewhere for your bowl;
Don’t hope for a taste of the Priestess of Soul.
No lesser saliva will ever absorb it,
This triumph of Trident (or possibly Orbit):
’Twould take nothing less than a double subpoena
To give up a gum strip once gnawed on by Nina.