"a teachable moment" published by The Daily Drunk Mag
For everyone else:
I love being a teacher.
I pretend to be a professional one.
That said, my poem "a teachable moment" has been published by The Daily Drunk Mag.
For one person in particular:
Dear_____________,
I wrote this poem with you in mind.
You’re a menace to society and I am proud to have you in my life.
Love,
MEH
“twelve minutes a slave” published in Ploughshares
I mean, not sure how it happened, but a poem I am very proud of appears in a journal I am very proud to be seen in.
“twelve minutes a slave” is now in the Winter 2020-2021 issue of Ploughshares!
[Say “what if?" is more dangerous than “why?"] at Fare Forward
One of my theological sonnets—[Say “what if?" is more dangerous than “why?"] was published over at Fare Forward.
Included in Nightingale & Sparrow's Top Ten of 2020 Microchapbook
The title says it all.
My tiny poem “first grade mural” was included in Nightingale & Sparrow's Top Ten of 2020 Microchapbook.
Dust and Ashes now available for purchase from Californios Press
Dust and Ashes, my new chapbook of ekphrastic poems, is now available for purchase from Californios Press!
Read samples and learn more here (also buy a copy).
"an open letter to a classmate on a conversation we never had" published in Twyckenham Notes
My poem "an open letter to a classmate on a conversation we never had" was just published in Twyckenham Notes’ Voice’s of Color issue.
This is one of my school poems, except this time, I’m a much (much) older student.
And if you realize the poem is about you…oh well.
This Present Former Glory: An Anthology of Honest Spiritual Literature [Editor]
When you’re asked to edit an anthology of creative writing by atheists, clergy, and people everywhere in between you can’t say no. At least I can’t. I am thrilled and humbled by how this all came together.
45 stupid talented writers tackled the deepest and most abiding questions about wrestling with their conceptions of divinity and spirituality in the midst of systematic racism, church camps, sexism, babies, a pandemic, slavery, callings into ministry, abusive parents, divorces, holding hands with the dying, sweeping glass after a riot, and sitting by the ocean, waiting.
This Present Former Glory: An Anthology of Honest Spiritual Literature can be purchased at A Game for Good Christians’ website for $16.95. And it’s well worth the price.
Two Poems Reprinted in Pensive
Two of my poems were reprinted in Issue One of Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts, published by the Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service (CSDS) at Northeastern University.
You can read them starting on page 118.
On How I Ended Up On (Another) Government Watch List...
My poem “an open letter to the school resource officer who almost shot me in my class” has been reprinted in Into the Void’s new anthology We Are Antifa: Expressions Against Fascism, Racism and Police Violence in the United States and Beyond.
Available on Amazon, 100% of the proceeds from this collection goes to Black Lives Matter Toronto.
Another Theological Sonnet up at The Windhover
“TO HE WHO GREATLY ENNOBLED HUMAN NATURE BY CREATING IT”
is published in The Windhover (24.2).
This sonnet takes its title from Soaphead Church's musings on theodicy in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, and wrestles with the same questions of divine justice in the face of genuine evil.
“when asked why Black people can't be racist” is up at Mineral Lit Mag
My poem “when asked why Black people can't be racist” has been published by Mineral Lit Mag.
tl:dr - If racism was a game, it'd be rigged.
"The Whitening" - Flash Fiction at The Fiction Pool
“The Whitening” is my first piece of fiction to be published. No surprise that it’s flash.
I’m grateful to the good folk at The Fiction Pool for accepting it, espcaily when I’m still not sure on the genre. Horror? Speculative? An average Tuesday?
And a special shout out to Vincent, who was there when the story began—back when it was supposed to be a joke.
How things have changed.
“first grade mural” Tweeted at Nightingale and Sparrow
My tiny poem “first grade mural” was recently Tweeted by Nightingale and Sparrow.
"Between the woods and frozen lake..." Creative Nonfiction at Barren Magazine
This story takes its title from Robert Frost’s “Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening” for many, many reasons. It was first written for my kids in class a few years ago, completing a memoir assignment alongside them.
But it was more than that.
I was sharing the burden of vulnerability in writing. An exercise in revealing without revealing. Saying something at a slant, through omission, obscured, knowing only some would see the picture clearly. Knowing that those who did see at first glance were able to because of something shared. Something unspoken, but now brought to light.
Everyone else simply saw an interesting story.
This story is dedicated to those with eyes to see and is now live at Barren Magazine
Five New Poems at Rigorous Magazine
The following five (5) poems were just published at Rigorous Magazine .
“Little Africa” ~ a school poem
an open letter to the young man on the subway platform, looking back, hurt and disgusted ~ for when “whistling Vivaldi?” isn’t enough
honesty in advertising ~ exactly what the title says
the conversation with my pastor, after she posted my bail ~ midrash
exposure therapy ~ being an ally takes different forms
They seem to like me over there and I’m happy to be featured on their pages again.
"an open letter to my well-intentioned white educators: past, present, and future" at Ninth Letter
“an open letter to my well-intentioned white educators: past, present, and future”
This poem was a long time in coming and was one of the first I read, out loud, in front of my current teaching assignment. It had an impact.
And was just published by Ninth Letter.
Two (Dysfunctional) School Poems at Porcupine Literary
“an open letter to the secretary who asked how i haven’t taken to drink or schedule 1 narcotics like so many of our colleagues”
and
“an open letter to the white girls caught chanting “NIGGER” on Snapchat, again”
have just been published at Porcupine Literary: A journal by and for teachers and can be read here.
Both of these poems have one important thing in common: they are about events after which people said, “you CAN’T write about that,” while others said, “how have you NOT written about that yet?!”
Well here they are. And I’m breaking my own rule: these are 100% accurate to events in schools I’ve worked in over the years. If you know, you know.
#NoChill
"an open letter to our white friends and supposed allies" at Frontier Poetry
"an open letter to our white friends and supposed allies" rose from a frank conversation with a friend.
It is now being featured as a part of Frontier Poetry’s Types of Burns series.
Feel free to ask your Black friends how true it is if you’re prepared for their honest answer.
Tahoma Literary Review Spotlights "self-evident"
"self-evident" by Matthew E. Henry, or MEH, caught my attention with its multiple and powerful layers. Told as an adult memory, it enters the moment when a child is asked to believe their own history isn't real but to focus instead on a cleaner, more inspiring narrative. For me, Henry's poem tackles rock-hard truths with personal experience and simple questions, and in so doing reexamines what we teach our children.
~ Mare Heron Hake, Poetry Editor TLR