Ebony Tomatoes Collective is a literary and arts magazine for personal and political liberation—by a Black, intersectional collective.
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Featured Writing
Fresh new pieces, hand-picked by our editors
The Self
A creative nonfiction story by writer, editor, and 2025 Brooklyn Poets Fellow JoliAmour Dubose-Morris. When Joli attempts to purchase a rare creature off of Craigslist, she is confronted by fragments of her past: high school boyfriends, nudes from the vault, and even Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple. After journeying through the pervasive trauma and sexualization faced by Black femmes, Joli comes face-to-face with what lies beneath the surface of her psyche.
By JoliAmour Dubose-Morris
Art by Ava Anglin
The Village
(re)collection
It has been 20 years since I performed wudhu, and today I feel particularly impure. I am taking my fathers body away from the mosque to be cremated. It is haram— the ultimate sin.
My Uncle does not look me in the eyes. My aunties shun me.
By Flor Khan
The Self
to mama
Matrilineal bonds and girlhood is on my mind, always. This poem came to be after reflecting on my relationship with my mother and the gaps in our lineage that I may never come to understand. Growing up, my mother would consistently recall her childhood home and a number of fruit trees her mother pruned, one being a cherry tree. In this poem, I allow myself to reflect on my grandmother’s backyard—a woman I never got to meet in a setting I will never see. Though in reality I play the role of estranged queer child, in this piece I allow myself to reimagine a relationship with both my mother and grandmother, one that is still touched by the rotting of time, but also softened by motherly love.
By Atarah Israel
The Village
The stories across the Black Diaspora
I Wonder if I’m the Mongoose
The SelfI Wonder if I'm the MongooseBy JoliAmour DuBose-MorrisAn essay from "Perennial Song" Mongoose Sale “Buy a Mongoose Today! They’ll change your life,” an ad on Craigslist said. From where? East Village. It’s a rare creature, so it can’t be purchased on Jamaica...
(re)collection
The Village(re)collectionBy Flor KhanA shortlisted essay from "Perennial Song" Bismillah– I enter the mosque with my right foot, a sign of respect and humility, following the example of the Prophet Muhammed Salallahu Alayhi Wasallam This is a place of worship, a...
oprah tried to kill me
The Selfoprah tried to kill meBy k thompson when oprah and her goonsa mob of strangers anduniformed cops, came rushingtowards me, i swung at themwith all my might.my mind was miles awayfrom the truth, unaware that in reality,i was standing in a walgreens parking...
The Keys to Lesbian Camp
The SelfThe Keys to (Lesbian) CampBy Tiffany HarrisFrom "Beyond the Margin: An Exploration of Black Lesbian Identity" “I get that it’s a gay thing, but do you really need to wear your keys on your belt to a job interview?” my mother asked, gesturing to the carabiner...
to mama
The Selfto mamaBy Atarah Israel butchered pumpkin seedsand rosebud-coated tongues,you plant apologies and nothingelse on my doorstep. it is summerand meaning has escaped me:those fickle clouds and their shapeless ideologies,their abstract tendrils envelope me...
You and I in Technicolor
The SelfYou and I in Technicolor By Cadence Beck Ivory fingers on redbone skin, your eyes were dead and filled with the sins of your daddy’s daddy long before I thought that someone might help things by keeping cans of light beer in the fridge for you. By keeping...
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