Ep. 33: Matt Sedillo: City on the Second Floor Page One Podcast

In Episode 33, we interview Matt Sedillo, hailed as the best political poet in America. Sedillo shares his unique approach to poetry writing, and gives insights into his personal journey and the rich storytelling traditions that have influenced his work. He also shares a sneak peek into his next project 'Elon Musk Must Be Stopped' and reads from his works 'City on the Second Floor' and 'Mowing Leaves of Grass', demonstrating first hand the three-act structure that is central to his writing style and unique to poets who rarely discuss deliberate design. Hearing Matt perform his poetry is one of the many delights in this episode about a kid who dreamed of becoming President but instead becomes a poet who is unfettered in speaking his truth about the current political landscape. Enjoy this genius at work. His brilliance is breathtaking.

He reads from his poem PILGRIM and gave us permission to post it in the episode notes.
Pilgrim by Matt Sedillo

See, some were born to summer homes
And palatial groves
Where pain was only to ever unfold
From the pages of Secret Gardens
Where the Red Fern Grows
But not I
See, I come from the stock
Of starry-eyed astronauts
Who greet the night sky
With big dreams and wide eyes
Always Running
Down the Devil’s Highway
Through Occupied America
On the way back to
The House on Mango Street
And all those other books
You didn’t want us to read
Raised on handball
Off the back wall
Of a panaderia
Born
East the river
Post Mendez vs Westminster
One generation removed
From the redlines
And diplomas signed
That those dreams
In that skin
Need not apply
See, I come from struggle
And if my story offends you
That is only ‘cause you made the mistake of seeking your reflection
In my self-portrait
See, this
Well this may not be about you
Because while some were born
To the common core
Whose reflected faces
Graced the pages
Of doctrines to discover
And ages to be explored
Where old world hardships
Crashed against new shores
New England
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
For others pushed off
Turtle Island
Aztlan
Do not call this brown skin
Immigrant
Child of the sun
Son of the conquest
Mexicano blood
Running through the veins
Of the eastside of Los Angeles
Do not tell him
In what native tongue
His song would best be sung
Do not tell me
Who I am
‘Cause I was raised just like you
Miseducated in some of those
Very same schools
Off lessons and legends
Of honest injuns and Christian pilgrims
And a nation of immigrants
All united in freedom
That is until they pulled aside
My white friend
Pointed directly at me
And said Scott
I judge you by the company you keep
And you spend your time with this
And that’s the same old story since 1846
The adventures of Uncle Sam
The stick-up man
Hey w*****k
Show me your papers
Now give me your labor
The Melting Pot
Was never meant for the hands
That clean it
The American dream
Has always come at the expense
Of those who tucked it in
And you don’t know that
‘Cause you don’t teach it
Could write you a book
But you won’t read it
So you know what
This is about you
And 1492
And the Treaty of Guadalupe
California Missions
And Arizona schools
And these racists
That try to erase us
As we raise their kids
In cities that bear our names
But you’re going to learn
Something today
‘Cause from Ferdinand
To minuteman
From Arpaio
To Alamo
From Popol Vuh
To Yo Soy Joaquin
To the Indian that still lives in me
From Mexico 68
To the missing 43
They tried to bury us
They didn’t know we were seeds
From Cananea mine
To Delano strike
From the Plan De Ayala
Emiliano Zapata
Joaquin Murrieta
Las Adelitas
Brown Berets
And Zapatistas
From Richard Nixon
To the Third Napoleon
From Peckinpah
To Houston
From Lone Star Republic
To Christopher Columbus
All the way down
To Donald f—g Trump
We didn’t cross the borders
The borders crossed us
Who you calling immigrant
Pilgrim?