Teaching While Black

by Matthew E. Henry

A riveting debut from poet-educator MEH, Teaching While Black is an honest, relentless portrait of the contemporary American classroom. MEH is in conversation with the past masters of American literature: Baldwin, Brooks, DuBois, Hughes, Morrison, and, behind them, the bloody thoughts of Shakespeare himself. But it is Rilke whose words best sum up this collection: "here there is no place / that does not see you. You must change your life." —Timothy E. G. Bartel, author of Aflame But Unconsumed: Poems.


In this book, MEH, a.k.a Matthew Henry, offers fascinating snapshots of teacher-student predicaments that can occur for an African American in a white system. But the book also reveals the ironies involved in exchanges between any well-educated teacher and youngsters in school. Towards the end of the book Matthew reveals his own history as a student—how it felt to be bussed and educated in the white system he has now joined. These poems are deeply moving because they are so deeply felt, so carefully, lovingly crafted. —Jeanne Murray Walker, Author of Pilgrim, You Find the Path by Walking


MEH? Hardly. Embodying a prophetic vocation, speaking in tongues, code-switching, this poet bears witness in a world of students, parents, administrators. No one in this book is a cliche. MEH reminds us by conflating trigger- with twitter-finger, the speaker is on an edge: if anger can be specific, so can humor. So can compassion. Truth. —Jeanine Hathaway, Long after Lauds

Genres: Poetry

43 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of multiple collections of poetry, but dabbles in prose . The editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes and Rise Up Review, MEH’s poetry and prose appears in Barren Magazine, Fahmidan Journal, The Florida Review, Frontier Poetry, Massachusetts Review, New York Quarterly, Ninth Letter, Ploughshares, Poetry East, Shenandoah, Solstice, and Zone 3 among others. MEH’s an educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at www.MEHPoeting.com and @MEHPoeting writing and tweeting about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground. Please feel free to reach out to MEH at MEHPoeting (at) gmail (dot com).

Reviews

[Michael Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If teaching weren’t already difficult, Matt’s poetic tirade against societal foibles the pangs of teaching while Black. “Stop talking” and “an open letter...” are my favorites, but each one resonates for different reasons.

If you’re a white reader, understand this is a glimpse of moments that occur, stories that are familiar as I listen to my black colleagues. Listen, read, learn, and repeat.