One of the Various: On Thomas Sayers Ellis [The Nation]

thenation.com Most poets are still just finding out about their stories in their second books, but Ellis is not most poets. The Maverick Room came in at 121 pages, twice the length of the average collection of poems; so Skin, Inc., which is 181 pages long, might be considered Ellis’s third through fifth books. Raised “in a so-called single parent household in Washington, D.C.,” and educated at Harvard and Brown, Ellis came to national attention as a literary community organizer. With fellow poet and Harvard grad Sharan Strange, he founded the Dark Room Reading Series out of their rented house … Continue reading One of the Various: On Thomas Sayers Ellis [The Nation]

A Brief Analysis of Maria Izaurralle’s Photo of RE – The Remix [A prose-poem by Thomas Sayers Ellis]

Hard to resist a good photo even if the symbolism surrounding the image is better than the actual aesthetic value of the photo. And we writers have to keep the scene honest. We are here to lift it, to see it clearly and creatively. Let’s consider the composition of the shot. Five framed guys. Familiar faces. Faces you know. The wickedest Go-Go pyramid alive. Think power. Think visual checkmate for a band that might have been losing its audience. Think legacy, think loss, think purpose. The only person in the shot (really) in focus is Whiteboy. Is that a metaphor, … Continue reading A Brief Analysis of Maria Izaurralle’s Photo of RE – The Remix [A prose-poem by Thomas Sayers Ellis]

As Long as There is Memory, There Will be Chuck

By Thomas Sayers Ellis I grew up on 7th and O Streets, NW so the sight of people dancing in the rain, on 7th and T Streets, NW, while Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, was having a part of a street named after him was amazing. A part of a street is a Way, a way in, a way out, opportunity. The man who made a way now has a Way, Chuck Brown Way, a green sign, with his name on it, in one of our city’s most historic districts. This is Go-Go’s city. We go on, don’t sleep … Continue reading As Long as There is Memory, There Will be Chuck

Pick Of The Week #100 Will Be The Last One From The Good TSE

It all came back to me the other night when i was backstage at the 9:30 Club in the dressing room with the original members of Trouble Funk. I hadn’t seen many of them in years, especially James Avery who used to actually give me a ride to practice at the Club Lebaron when we were Heavy Connection Band & Show. It came back to me: it was James Avery’s camera that I first held onstage, yep, trying to get good pictures of JuJu, James and the rest of the band. There, in that moment, something was born but the … Continue reading Pick Of The Week #100 Will Be The Last One From The Good TSE