As Black man teaching in a wealthy, predominately white environment, I am acutely aware that my appearance reflects on not only myself, but everyone else who looks like me…
Reading & Interview with Mitch Nobis an Wednesday Night Sessions
I was pleased to sit down with fellow teacher-poet Mitch Nobis at Wednesday Night Sessions to read and discuss selections from Teaching While Black, and other school-related poems.
The set list:
stop talking
etymology
when asked why “all lives” don’t matter
an open letter to the white girls caught chanting “NIGGER” on Snapchat, again
an open letter to those wondering why I’ve called this the most racist place I’ve ever worked
re: your aryan princess in my class
(Also, my former beard was having a good hair day.)
Reading and Interview with Chewing the Gristle
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…
Gotta love that picture...
Interview with Why We Write at Lesley University
From the show notes:
'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.
Interview with Frontier Poetry about The Weight Journal
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Interview with NEWPAGES Blog about The Weight Journal
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Interview with Lesley University on Race, Education, and Poetry
“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…”
So begins my interview with the good folks at Lesley University, which is where I earned my PhD.
The title is also very telling:
“Dr. Matthew E. Henry’s unapologetic poetry addresses racism in the classroom: Teaching While Black chronicles 18 years of ‘come to Jesus’ conversations.”
Read the rest here.
The interview also includes a reading of my poem “when asked why ‘all lives’ don’t matter.”
Interview with Doug Holder (Poet to Poet)
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My virtual sit-down with Doug Holder of Poet to Poet.
We talk about both teaching while Black (in reality), as well as Teaching While Black (my book). I also read a short selection of poems from the collection at the end.
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.