apparently my last poem offended

by Matthew E. Henry

the kind of guy who was valedictorian of summer school six years running. the kind of guy who thinks the stripper from his third cousin’s bachelor party was actually into him. the kind of guy who bungees fake Raybans to his backward-facing ballcap, yet sun-shields his eyes with an upturned palm. the kind of guy whose parents were middle school sweethearts who met at a family reunion. the kind of guy who tweets about replacement theory, reverse racism, and critical race theory infiltrating his niece’s preschool through drag queens reading liberal picture books at the local library. good.

6S

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is an educator, essayist, and the author of six poetry collections. He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, the creative nonfiction editor at Porcupine Literary, and an associate editor at Rise Up Review. MEH’s publications include Barren Magazine, Had, Massachusetts Review, Mayday, Mom Egg Review, Ploughshares, Stone Circle Review, Terrain, Whale Road Review, The Worcester Review, and Zone 3. MEH earned an MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. He writes about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground here.