"When I say poet, it's an arbitrary word. It's a word I use because I don't like the word artist. Nina Simone is a poet...There is a whole list of people. I'm not talking about literature at all. I'm talking about the recreation of experience, you know, the way that it comes back...And if you could bear it, then you could begin to change it. That's what a poet does. I'm not talking about books. I'm talking about a certain kind of passion, a certain kind of energy which people produce and they secrete in certain people like Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, and Max Roach because they need it and these people give it back to you and they get you from one place to another."
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Civil rights activistsWomen singersSinger-songwriters from the United StatesJazz singersWomen activists from the United States
Original Language: English
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Sources
1973 interview in Conversations with James Baldwin edited by Louis H. Pratt and Fred L. Standley (1989)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nina_Simone
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Nina Simone
Nina Simone (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned many musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
21 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nina Simone →
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