 Thomas Sayers Ellis has been endorsed by the likes of Amiri Baraka and Michael Eric Dyson, who admires Ellis' "sonic site-specific artistry" and it is easy to see why. In language cut as tight as a triathlete's calves he steps up to the page and lets fly with poetry that keeps you pinned down until dawn. His artistry in line breaks lends multiple meanings and a sweet sonority that continues to chorus after each poem is read. "Slow Fade to Black" is one of his classic pieces. Excerpt below:
A silhouette behind a flashlight
led us down an aisle
into The Shadow World,
rows & rows of runaways
awaiting emancipation.
Theater, belly, cave,
ate what got in.
We half dreamt weightlessness,
salvation, freedom, escape.
A resurrection of arms,
we wished were wings,
reached in & out of greasy buckets
picking something the precise
color & weight of cotton.
This is an author to watch. Revolutionary in thought, speech and motion.
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| Visit the XO book catalogue |
 The XO catalogue features an ever-growing range of independent titles (mainly poetry), which are produced by small, independent or self-publisher and have limited distribution. If you are looking for a book you cannot find, please send us an e-mail at findbook@x-bout.com and we will endeavour to find it for you. New additions every week...
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Our background at xo is organising events and through that we have found that there are often some very talented writers out there whose work doesn't get seen by a significant number of people either because they are self-published or with a very small press that cannot afford international advertising. For example BOA editions in the United States publishes some very good poetry that rarely makes it onto shelves in European bookstores. We hope that through this site we can help rectify that by bringing such books into prominence through reviews, links to relevant websites, and in some cases offering these smaller publishers an outlet for their products.
The ranking on the left is derived from our recommended reads throughout last year. We hope you find it helpful. You will notice that it combines some very well-known titles with some that you may never have heard of. That's the whole point of xo - we are keen to discover that which is marked for greatness, regardless of its origin. If you have any suggestions for this year please send us an e-mail at booksxo@x-bout.com.
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