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By Thomas Sayers Ellis

Or Oreo, or
worse. Or ordinary.
Or your choice   
of category


            or   
            Color


or any color   
other than Colored
or Colored Only.
Or “Of Color”
         
            or   
            Other


or theory or discourse
or oral territory.
Oregon or Georgia
or Florida Zora


            or
            Opportunity


or born poor   
or Corporate. Or Moor.
Or a Noir Orpheus
or Senghor


            or   
            Diaspora


or a horrendous   
and tore-up journey.
Or performance. Or allegory’s armor
of ignorant comfort


            or
            Worship


or reform or a sore chorus.
Or Electoral Corruption
or important ports
of Yoruba or worry


            or
            Neighbor


or fear of . . .
of terror or border.
Or all organized
minorities.


Thomas Sayers Ellis, "Or" from . Copyright © by Thomas Sayers Ellis. Reprinted by permission of Poetry magazine.

Source: Poetry (February 2010)

  • Social Commentaries

Poet Bio

Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis grew up in Washington, D.C. and earned his MFA from Brown University. He is the author of Skin, Inc. (2013) and The Maverick Room (2005). He co-founded the Dark Room Collective in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received a Whiting Award in 2005. Ellis has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Case Western Reserve University, and Lesley University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. See More By This Poet

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