In this episode of Chewing the Gristle, poets Al Black and Tim Conroy chat with the Bostonian teacher, poet, and editor, Matthew E. Henry. Listening to Matthew’s poetry, I wondered where this poet got his bravery. Did it fester in youth silently until it exploded with prophetic courage reacting to the pretense of equality in a country that still privileges white lives over black lives? Matthew's poems are as spiritual as baptism down by a river, as bloodletting as Macbeth, and as authentic as a burial. His poems from Teaching While Black and Dust and Ashes wield images and sounds that wake us with undeniable truth and pain. Matthew expressed himself as a young creative soul during primary school and high school by writing short stories. Though he teased that perhaps he wrote better as an elementary school poet than now…