Maybe, when Nina Simone sings and writes and performs, her sense of time is forgiving and expansive.

Each time I listen, though, a little relief moves through the room, because Nina Simone’s sense of time is not wedded to my disappointment my regret is exposed as tiresome, actually, because her different sense of time and place sonically assembles something more pressing than self-remorse. I am sad her songs are missing from parts of my past. Pastel Blues includes the songs “Trouble in Mind” and “Tell Me More and More and Then Some” and “Ain’t No Use” and “Sinnerman.” I came to Nina Simone late, in my 20s, and there are days when I am filled up with regret. THE FIRST ALBUM I heard by Nina Simone was Pastel Blues. DONATE $5 A MONTH, RECEIVE THE MISTAKE ISSUE OF THE LARB QUARTERLY JOURNAL AS AN EPUB OR PDF.

IN ORDER TO CONTINUE PROVIDING FREE COVERAGE OF THE BEST IN WRITING AND THOUGHT, WE ARE RELYING ON YOUR SUPPORT NOW MORE THAN EVER. LIKE SO MANY NONPROFITS AND LITERARY COMMUNITIES, MANY OF LARB’S FUNDRAISING SOURCES HAVE BEEN UPENDED. THIS PIECE APPEARS IN THE MISTAKE ISSUE OF THE LARB QUARTERLY JOURNAL, NO.27.

Pastel blue