Thomas Sayers Ellis is the author of The Maverick Room and Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems (Graywolf Press). His work has recently appeared in Poetry, Pluck!, Paris Review, and The Best American Poetry 2015. He is a photographer and a founding member of Heroes Are Gang Leaders, and is currently visiting writer at the City College of New York.
Poetry
Fall 2009
Understanding the New Genuine Negro Hero
Appreciates us, our range of high worries and low joys breaking wholeness into flava —the folk and uppity nuances of "being black" not "blackness" from the triflin' to the bougie, […]
Poetry
Winter 1994
Cowbell
You’re how we found The Maverick Room, The Cave Yard, The Black Hole, and block parties In hard-to-find inner city neighborhoods With names like Congress Heights & Valley Green. You’re […]
Poetry
Winter 1994
Tapes
We got them the hard way, Taking turns holding recorders Filled with the weight of D batteries On our shoulders. We pressed PLAY & RECORD, Ready to release PAUSE The […]
Poetry
Winter 1994
The Moonlite Inn
1 Our truck rolled out of an alley In Petworth at 8–after dinner, A bellyful of roadies & chrome. Like a compass, a cracked cowbell sat On the dashboard, its […]
Fall 2015
Chuck Town
Heroes Are Gang Leaders for Chuck Brown 1936-2012 Sell Chuck. Buy Chucks. One Chuck fits. Lace up Liaison gold Chucks, All Stars. Chucks come in all pockets not just Pops. […]