the Colored page
(Sundress Publications, 2022)
A 2023 NEW ENGLAND POETRY CLUB SHEILA MARGARET MOTTON BOOK PRIZE FINALIST
A 2023 HOUSATONIC BOOK AWARD FINALIST
“In a debut where no one is left unaddressed, Matthew E. Henry poetically investigates issues of the modern world including conversations with Marxists, ‘well actually’ guys, the odd questions from coworkers, and racism of all forms. This is a collection of advocacy where educators are seen and the thoughtless are forced to reflect. In the Colored page, MEH manages to capture all of our collective rage and grievances at a time where the world is ablaze.”
—Chris L. Butler, author of Sacrilegious: Poems & Prose
“Matthew E. Henry takes the reader on an indelible journey in the poetry collection, the Colored page. An honest and painful recollection of the odyssey as a Black child growing up in the not-so-kind north and battling the same demons as an adult amongst a sea of people who only see him when they are looking for him. Playful language meets the grit of reality, and the combination pulls you through each page. While the Colored page references the 'greats,' this book deserves a place on that shelf too.”
—Ashley Elizabeth, author of you were supposed to be a friend
“These poems are exquisitely crafted to force our focus where America refuses to gaze. From teachers’ ‘messianic attempts to save,’ to the curriculum’s ‘slim books / stacked like hulled bodies in the back / of my classroom,’ Henry freezes time as both teacher and student. In any one of these poems, he expands and investigates the American classroom more than entire pedagogical studies do—the Colored page should be taught as literature but also in every teacher-education class. I would be a better teacher if I had read this first. Furthermore, Henry’s poems are a master class for teacher-writers on turning daily challenges into art. This book could change your life in more ways than one.”
—Mitchell Nobis, teacher, writer, and host of Wednesday Night Sessions
“There’s a popular scene from the show Lovecraft Country where three Black characters visit what they believe to be a Black-friendly diner only to discover the charred remnants of the old diner beneath the floorboards and the fresh white paint—this is what it’s like to read Matthew E. Henry’s the Colored page. Framed by Langston Hughes’ poem, ‘Theme for English B,’ these poems investigate how America’s education system itself is slavery repainted and renovated, how the whiteness of Boston classrooms necessitates a separate course in Black tolerance, silence, and survival. And although Henry’s speaker does survive, he acknowledges the cyclical nature of racism and violence. Henry writes, ‘I miss being the only Black professor / in a program where I was once the only Black face / on the website for over a decade, wondering if my legacy / will be passed to the lone Brother sitting in my old seat,’ a clear illustration of how America’s painful past is never truly addressed, but painted and bricked over time and time again.
—Taylor Byas, author of Bloodwarm
Reviews of the Colored page
Author Interviews about the Colored page.
