Update

Booking MEH for readings and such!

My Events and Services page is now live!

See where I will be in the world (in-person and virtually) and whether I can be useful to your community.

I am available for in-person and virtual readings, workshops, and professional developments for all age-groups. I’ve made appearances in elementary, middle, and high schools, at colleges/universities, in community centers and churches, as well as at national/international conferences.

Selected for Kenyon Review's 2022 Writers Retreat


The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers partnered with the Kenyon Review to offer a summer writing experience for educators participating in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! Educators with a student who received regional recognition in the 2022 Awards were eligible to apply for tuition coverage to attend an online, six-day workshop series to hone their writing and teaching practices with the Kenyon Review. They also received a $200 stipend to support their writing.

I'm one of those educators! More about that here.

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Presenting and Reading at The Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival

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I will be presenting at workshop at the Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival.

Translating Trauma

Writers often sift through personal and global pain using it as inspiration for composition. This can be done as a means of processing and coping with trauma, as well as a means of making connections with others. But are there stories we should keep to ourselves? Are we sometimes telling stories that are not ours to tell? When is writing an unhealthy act of reliving trauma instead of remembering it in a creative, healing context? Through the lens of poetry, this workshop—part craft lecture, part unlicensed therapy session—will consider these questions, and provide participants with tools to construct personal guidelines to best care for themselves and others during the writing process.

It will be live and livestreamed. The whole festival is free. More details here.

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"Award Winning Poet Matthew E. Henry Reads for Gordon College"

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"Award Winning Poet Matthew E. Henry Reads for Gordon College"

Last fall, three-time Pushcart nominated poet Matthew E. Henry performed a poetry reading in the Barrington Cinema as a part of the Princemere Writers Series. Led by English Professor Mark Stevick, the Series invites renowned and emerging writers to Gordon College to share their art and engage with Creative Writing students. Henry also visited with Stevick’s Literary Journal class to discuss writing, editing, publishing, and teaching…[Click for full article]

"some students give apples" Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

Confession time.

I was seeing writers I LOVE being nominated for Pushcarts and Best of the Nets all over the place, and feeling VERY PROUD/HAPPY for them, but also a little sad that it wasn’t me.

I also recognized feeling surprise that it wasn’t me, which was very unusual, until I realized that I’ve been nominated for a Pushcart or BoTN (or both) every year since 2018.

After some soul-searching and smacking of self, I remembered I’m not owed a damn thing. That I will lean into my joy for others. That I write for me, regardless of whether anyone else notices.

And then I got an email from Relief Journal saying my poem “some students give apples” was nominated for a Pushcart. All the above remains true, but the recognition is still nice.

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Sonnet wins The Fare Forward Poetry Competition

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I am thrilled to announce that one of my theological sonnets—[Say Jonah was right and grace is wasted]—was the winner of The Fare Forward Poetry Competition!

In addition to publication in the next issue of Fare Forward, there was a cash prize, and bragging rights.

A special thanks to the journals who rejected this poem as not being good enough.

You can read it here

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Teaching Anti-Racist Poetry Workshop at Mass Poetry Festival 2021

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Today I lead a workshop on Teaching Anti-Racist Poetry as part of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival!

I think it went when and I didn’t bring (much) shame to the family.

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If you’re looking for a similar workshop with your students, your department, your school, your writing group (etc.) hit me up.

Here is the description of what we did today:

In this workshop, participants will explore anti-racist pedagogy through poetry. After defining terms, the time will be spent reading poetry from a variety of sources (mostly living BIPOC authors) and participating in analysis and discussion activities geared towards high school language arts classrooms. This workshop targets high school language arts teachers looking for ways to engage their classroom communities with honesty, vulnerability, and bravery. Participants will leave with a governing philosophy (“if not my class, then where?”), a classroom-ready packet of poems, and instructional ideas.

If you were in the workshop or the live stream and need access to the resources/materials that I provided, hit me up.

Poem Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

I’m pleased to announce that Porcupine Literary nominated my poem “an open letter to the secretary who asked how i haven’t taken to drink or schedule 1 narcotics like so many of our colleagues” for the Pushcart Prize.

Maybe this is the time the powers that be will move me from a nominate to a recipient. But I’m honored nonetheless.

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Tahoma Literary Review Spotlights "self-evident"

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"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.