Matthew Henry

MAYBE JESUS JUST NEEDED TO GET LAID

ever the student of Augustine—“chaste
Lord, but just not yet”—Micah eyes the red
Gideon Bible closed on the nightstand.
remembers the words read before dialing—
disciples unable to watch and pray,
falls into temptation. lace panties lie
at the bathroom door. the shower’s running.
her name’s lost to him like steam, fire smoke
in a garden, the thurible’s incense
he’ll swing in morning mass. the shower stops.
the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.
he puts his bones back on, finds his wallet,
leaves her wages atop the worn leather.

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of full-length collections the Colored page (Sundress Publications, 2022) and The Third Renunciation (NYQ Books, 2023), as well as the chapbooks Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020), Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020), and have you heard the one about…? (Ghost City Press, 2023). He also has a collection forthcoming from Harbor Editions. He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes. MEH’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in Cola, The Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Pangyrus, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, and The Worcester Review among others. The 2023 winner of the Solstice Literary Magazine Stephen Dunn Prize, MEH is an educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education... Full Profile