This chapter of my project focuses on the formal experiments of Jamaican-born Mark McMorrisMcMorris, Mark. in his books The Black ReedsMcMorris, Mark.. (1997), The Blaze of the PouiMcMorris, Mark.. (2003), and The Café at LightMcMorris, Mark.. (2004). Situating him in both CaribbeanCaribbean. and American modernism, I show how this work thoroughly engages with the disruptive and elusive elements of (black) literary tradition, language, and identity. In fact, this disruption for McMorrisMcMorris, Mark. involves not merely self-definition but right-relations with other people. To elucidate the ethicsethics. in his writing, this chapter takes two steps. First, I critique postcolonialpostcolonialism. notions of othernessotherness.see also alterity. to help explain how “right relations” are figured within McMorrisMcMorris, Mark.’ poetry that does not readily cohere to the theoretical line that othernessotherness.see also alterity. is an undesirable position for the postcolonialpostcolonialism. subject. Second, I situate McMorrisMcMorris, Mark.’s writing within the historically postcolonialpostcolonialism. context of JamaicaJamaica.’s experiments in the 1970s with democratic socialism, reggaereggae.see also music. culture, and national identity formation because the public discourse of the time is pervaded by the idea of responsibilities to others, and in some ways this context can help reveal the full extent of the ethics of his poetry.