On shaving my beard…

I'm still working on a poem about this (of course I am), but these tweets will have to do for now.

So when anyone asked "why," I could explain what it's like to wake up every morning and confront a unkempt, unruly, uneven, unmanageable administration...I mean beard...could speak on what it is to carry a weight I will gladly drop once the time arrives.

— MEH is too Black & too well read to be surprised. (@MehPoeting) January 20, 2021

“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!

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Wow! Flipped open my new issue of @pshares to this outstanding poem by Matthew E. Henry (@MehPoeting).

Do yourself a favor and read it. #poemoftheday pic.twitter.com/N1Ze6ktH1n

— Kelli Russell Agodon (@KelliAgodon) January 15, 2021

[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.

Buy MEH's poetry from MEH!

I finally figured out how to sell my collections directly to those good people brave (or crazy) enough to be interested in a copy.

While you can still buy direct from my publishers, Teaching While Black and Dust and Ashes can now go directly from my hands to yours.

Finalist in Sundress Publication's 2020 Poetry Open Reading

My full-length collection the Colored page—a semi-autobiographical follow-up to Teaching While Black—was a finalist in Sundress Publication's 2020 Poetry Open Reading Period.

One step closer to having this collection out in the world.

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).

Poem Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

I’m pleased to announce that Porcupine Literary nominated my poem “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” for the Pushcart Prize.

Maybe this is the time the powers that be will move me from a nominate to a recipient. But I’m honored nonetheless.

"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.

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.

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.

A Nod from Winning Writers

I’ve been added as a Recommended Author at WinningWriters.Com,

and The Weight Journal has been added as a resource for young writers!

I’ll take it.

Interview with Frontier Poetry about The Weight Journal

Click image to read

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.

Best of the Net Nomination

“fugue state in B minor” was nominated for Best of the Net 2020 in poetry by 3Elements Literary Review.

More on the poem in the link above.

Teaching While Black Reviewed in The Radical Teacher

An in-depth and insightful review of Teaching While Black was written by Eben Wood for The Radical Teacher (where some of the poems in my collection originally appeared).

Mr. Wood comments on my work through the critical lens of radical pedagogy, including not only my poems in his analysis, but also my choice of epigrams, ordering, and this historical moment.

It’s always humbling to see my work through someone else’s eyes. Click image to read.