Review of Promises to Keep from New England Literary News

Faith, love, and anger in Matthew E. Henry’s new collection

“The day of reckoning / has arrived,” writes Matthew E. Henry in his new collection, Promises To Keep (Wayfarer). That day is each day, and this book serves as a reckoning itself, with the contradictions, the inequity, the many and varied iterations of violence and hate. Wrath and love hold hands in these poems, many of them voiced by a man who’s been called to be a prophet. …

Read the rest of Nina MacLaughlin’s lovely review of Promises to Keep in New England Literary News through the link below!

The Third Renunciation reviewed in Pedestal Magazine

The Third Renunciation was just reviewed in Pedestal Magazine and I’m at a loss for words. It’s always humbling when a review “gets” a collection in a special way.

"Have you heard the one about...?" Reviewed by The Poetry Question

A wonderful review of my microchapbook “Have you heard the one about…?” (Ghost City Press, 2023) has just dropped over at The Poetry Question.

Psaltery & Lyre Book Review of The Third Renunciation

“Henry’s work is skillfully filled with contradictions, provocation, humor, aggression, and ponderance. Be prepared to sit down with your own self and allow yourself to question your faith and the absurdity of life as you read these vividly powerful poems. Each time you read them, you’ll find new wisdom.”

I’m pleased to have this thoughtful review of The Third Renunciation in Psaltery & Lyre

Fare Forward’s The Editors’ Best of 2023 - The Third Renunciation

The Third Renunciation was one of Fare Forward’s The Editors’ Best of 2023

In a year filled with mass shootings, hate crimes, and wars, I craved a book on theodicy. But I wasn’t going to find the book I personally needed on a systematic theology shelf. Instead, I reread Henry’s poems.

Slant Books Review of The Third Renunciation

Brian Volk wrote a review of The Third Renunciation for Slant Books. It’s a mind-blowing honor to be considered alongside the new work of B.H. Fairchild and Scott Cairns.

The Main Street Rag review of the Colored page

I am proud to have a new review of the Colored page in the Fall 2022 edition of The Main Street Rag.

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Review of Teaching While Black at Sundress Reads

Teaching While Black is a full collection of confessional poetry from black poet and educator Matthew E. Henry available through Main Street Rag Publishing Company. This book showcases the lack of respect Henry, as a Black teacher, often faces in the public school system and the amount of emotional labor he often carries for his students…

Thus begins a lovely review of my collection from Sundress Publication’s Sundress Reads .

Read the rest here.