after Stevie Wonder

Matthew E. Henry

he’s everything the racists hoped a Black president would be.
a sexual predator, jackal-slinking from one vulgarity
to the next—tiny hands always in someone else’s pocket.
a bastard with multiple baby mommas, married—for the moment—
to an off-White woman his supporters used to slut shame, citing
something about “family values.” with a bachelor’s in shucking,
a master of jiving, he’s so crooked he has to screw on his socks—
catching more cases than cold sores, which is surprising considering
the number of prostitutes on his payroll. surrounded by a collection
of shady characters—Dickensian in corruption—he’s a study
in ghetto wealth: a bankrupt adept at borrowing money
he’s never good for, who thinks gold should adorn everything
his name touches, showers included. he’s the most shiftless nigger 
I know. and of course he’s from New York.

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of six poetry collections, most recently said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024). 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, Anti-Heroin Chic, Had, Massachusetts Review, Mayday, Mom Egg Review, Ploughshares, Redivider, Stone Circle Review, Terrain, Whale Road Review, and The Worcester Review. MEH is a high school teacher who received his 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 at MEHPoeting.com

This poem, misstra know-it-all, appeared in Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project. We’ll be featuring each poem from the collection individually in the weeks ahead. You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.