In this episode of Chewing the Gristle, poets Al Black and Tim Conroy chat with the Bostonian teacher, poet, and editor, Matthew E. Henry. Listening to Matthew’s poetry, I wondered where this poet got his bravery. Did it fester in youth silently until it exploded with prophetic courage reacting to the pretense of equality in a country that still privileges white lives over black lives? Matthew's poems are as spiritual as baptism down by a river, as bloodletting as Macbeth, and as authentic as a burial. His poems from Teaching While Black and Dust and Ashes wield images and sounds that wake us with undeniable truth and pain. Matthew expressed himself as a young creative soul during primary school and high school by writing short stories. Though he teased that perhaps he wrote better as an elementary school poet than now…
'Teaching While Black': a poet explores racism in the classroom
Matthew E. Henry, PhD, gives an unflinching portrayal of teaching while black in his debut poetry collection of the same name.
“If Dr. Matthew E. Henry’s debut poetry collection, “Teaching While Black,” had been published five years ago, it would still have been relevant, it’s just that fewer people would have realized it.
In a country reckoning with centuries of systematic and internalized racism, Henry’s forthright verse is an important entry into the conversation…”
In this version, we get to see one of my former students (from over a decade ago) popping in and out of his car. : )
June 6, 2020 ~ Doug Holder interviews Matthew E. Henry author of Teaching While Black.
