Michael talks with Matthew E. Henry about teaching high school, becoming drawn to the immediacy of poetry, advanced degrees in poetry and theology and education, a chapbook leading to his first full-length poetry collection, teaching and learning in mostly white educational spaces, a book as a prompt for recurring forms to access content, writing in conversation with the work of Langston Hughes, narrative arc and lyric depth in poetry, sarcasm as a poetic tool, and more.
Matthew E. Henry is the author of the Colored page (Sundress Publication, 2022), Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020), and Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020). He has two collections forthcoming in 2023 from New York Quarterly Books and Harbor Editions. MEH is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes.
Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.