Two Poems Reprinted in Teaching Black Anthology

I am honored to have two of my poems reprinted in the upcoming University of Pittsburgh Press anthology Teaching Black: Pedagogy, Practice, and Perspectives on Writing edited by Ana Lara and Drea Brown.

Both of these poems— “an open letter to the school resource officer who almost shot me in my class” & “the surprising thing” — appear in my first collection, Teaching While Black.

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.

Tahoma Literary Review Spotlights "self-evident"

"self-evident" by Matthew E. Henry, or MEH, caught my attention with its multiple and powerful layers. Told as an adult memory, it enters the moment when a child is asked to believe their own history isn't real but to focus instead on a cleaner, more inspiring narrative. For me, Henry's poem tackles rock-hard truths with personal experience and simple questions, and in so doing reexamines what we teach our children.

~ Mare Heron Hake, Poetry Editor TLR

See the rest here.

Selected for MassPoetry "Poem of the Moment“ Feature

My poem “self evident” has been selected by MassPoetry as a “Poem of the Moment.”

This honor means that my poem will be displayed on the Mass Poetry homepage for one week, be part of the Mass Poetry newsletter sent to 5000+ subscribers, and live in the Poem of the Moment archives.

And scores of English, humanities, and social studies teachers are going to suddenly feel very guilty, and (hopefully) reassess their white supremacist pedagogy.

Strong language you say?

If your lesson(s) specifically “other” your students because of their race, if the assignment is only natural and comfortable for white children, what would you call it?

Poem published in Take a Stand, Art Against Hate

“said the band-aid to the shotgun wound”

is being reprinted in Take a Stand, Art Against Hate: A Raven Chronicles Anthology.

This poem, originally published in Teaching While Black, explores everything wrong with the application of uncritical anti-bias trainings in public school settings. Or at least what I could fit into one long poem before my head exploded.

I proud to have it included in this anthology.