“Gore” © Thomas Riesner
an open letter to the karen who just inspired me ten minutes ago
when your pastor posted about a social injustice, your pasty fingers
couldn’t type fast enough—your clearly didn’t read the article
rhetorical questions slick with xenophobia, racism, and other words
your almost-GED couldn’t spell. smelling the disappointment rising
from the altar of your self-pity, when others opined to bat down
your insipid moral turpitude, should have been enough. but I needed
to see what lay beneath your public posts and profile pic whose haircut
is useful identifying women who think a white hood will mess up her hair.
clicking your avatar, I saw exactly what I expected—a white robed,
dirty blonde Jesus. German hymns plastered over pastel sunsets.
Jerimiah 29:11 and Philippians 4:13 quoted woefully out of context.
a call for the love of God extended to all the children of the world
(though your version is apparently missing the first three races
from the chorus). the hypocrisy stifling as the noose your posts
pull taunt around the most vulnerable necks. suddenly, so incredibly
tired, I remembered what I said about the emotional toll of writing
at the intersection of the spiritual and the political—the biblical
and the social—being too much for me to handle. but that I should
start to fight that good fight, because someone has to. so, thank you.
Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is an educator, essayist, occasional fiction writer, and the author of seven poetry collections, most recently Promises to Keep (Wayfarer Books, 2026). He’s editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and nonfiction editor at Porcupine Literary. 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 at www.MEHPoeting.com.
Thomas Riesner: “I was born in Leipzig,Germany in 1971 and I still live here today. Already in elementary school I often painted “abstract” instead of the given concrete drawing. I later retained this style or changed it to “abstract figuration ” I painted a lot at home, always without professional guidance. I didn’t have any specific role models. When I start a picture, I only have a certain idea, but often something completely different emerges. I would describe myself as an outsiderart artist.”