Siren Blues, Coloredtown, Miami

laugh gal, laugh gal
sponger money
ain’t never done
.....................
Yo’ Daddy call you a dirty gal
—Bahamian dance song lyrics, as documented by Zora Neal Hurston

Refrain. Sang ’til I felt my thighs clench

and a fisherman fell into his water glass.

You’d think my song served him a fix

the way he licked his sandy lips—

he strolled in my club smelling fishy, ready

to spend a day’s work on a good night.

I watched that man grow fat each night,

waiting for my big bad song to clench

at something inside, stir him ready

to rise, dream himself a captain—glass

still in hand. He spilled sin from his lips

praying like that. Caught himself a fix

messing ’round with my coin. So, I fixed

him a lullaby and bid dear daddy nite.

I tell you, I ain’t lying, these ain’t lying lips

I watched him twist and writhe. Neck clenched

like my own. My song an elixir, a trance in a glass—

I watched him die. Rum? When my song already

sweet? I knew you had the sugars. You came ready,

sponger daddy. So, I put a spell on you. A fix.

You’re mine. My trill feathered in the glass.

You called me bird like you knew me last night.

Did you see the shore on my thighs, clenched

like a tail? You know I can’t stand it. These lips

love to enchant. You’re running around these lips?

You know better daddy. Ain’t lift a finger. You came ready.

I can’t stand it ’cause you put me down—so I clench

the mic black as skin. Obeah man taught me to fix

you lewd boaters to go sailing into the Miami night.

So, I sing ’ til interrupted—drop a oo in the glass.

I sing hard songs, some of ’em cut like glass.

Mr. Mama gave me miracle berry to rouge my lips,

so no one could see the kiss, or taste the nite

I left on the rim of the glass, sweet and ready.

I saw a sailboat a sailing in the harbor. Fix.

Saw a yaller board, took him to be my lover. I clench—

drawing out the note. I put a spell on you. I clench

the mic—his throat. Because you’re mine. I fixed ya.

Told you—better stop the things you do—already.

Notes:

With lines from “Dance Songs and Tales from the Bahamas” and Nina Simone’s “I Put a Spell on You.”

Source: Poetry (June 2026)