{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpage-one.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Fep-33-matt-sedillo-city-on-the-second-floor-fYT_b0CJ","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Ep. 33: Matt Sedillo: City on the Second Floor","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/8583da00-42e9-4897-ab16-2a2d61be8a44/0658075b-02eb-4a0d-9845-9e9069113132/ep-33-matt-sedillo.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"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.\n\nHe reads from his poem PILGRIM and gave us permission to post it in the episode notes.\nPilgrim by Matt Sedillo\n \nSee, some were born to summer homes\nAnd palatial groves\nWhere pain was only to ever unfold\nFrom the pages of Secret Gardens\nWhere the Red Fern Grows\nBut not I\nSee, I come from the stock\nOf starry-eyed astronauts\nWho greet the night sky\nWith big dreams and wide eyes\nAlways Running\nDown the Devil’s Highway\nThrough Occupied America\nOn the way back to\nThe House on Mango Street\nAnd all those other books\nYou didn’t want us to read\nRaised on handball\nOff the back wall\nOf a panaderia\nBorn\nEast the river\nPost Mendez vs Westminster\nOne generation removed\nFrom the redlines\nAnd diplomas signed\nThat those dreams\nIn that skin\nNeed not apply\nSee, I come from struggle\nAnd if my story offends you\nThat is only ‘cause you made the mistake of seeking your reflection\nIn my self-portrait\nSee, this\nWell this may not be about you\nBecause while some were born\nTo the common core\nWhose reflected faces\nGraced the pages\nOf doctrines to discover\n And ages to be explored\n Where old world hardships\n Crashed against new shores\n New England\nNew Hampshire\nNew Jersey\nNew York\nFor others pushed off\nTurtle Island\nAztlan\nDo not call this brown skin\nImmigrant\nChild of the sun\nSon of the conquest\nMexicano blood\nRunning through the veins\nOf the eastside of Los Angeles\nDo not tell him\nIn what native tongue\nHis song would best be sung\nDo not tell me\nWho I am\n‘Cause I was raised just like you\nMiseducated in some of those\nVery same schools\nOff lessons and legends\nOf honest injuns and Christian pilgrims\nAnd a nation of immigrants\nAll united in freedom\nThat is until they pulled aside\nMy white friend\nPointed directly at me\nAnd said Scott\nI judge you by the company you keep\nAnd you spend your time with this\nAnd that’s the same old story since 1846\nThe adventures of Uncle Sam\nThe stick-up man\nHey wetback\nShow me your papers\nNow give me your labor\nThe Melting Pot\nWas never meant for the hands\nThat clean it\nThe American dream\nHas always come at the expense\nOf those who tucked it in\nAnd you don’t know that\n ‘Cause you don’t teach it\nCould write you a book\nBut you won’t read it\nSo you know what\nThis is about you\nAnd 1492\nAnd the Treaty of Guadalupe\nCalifornia Missions\nAnd Arizona schools\nAnd these racists\nThat try to erase us\nAs we raise their kids\nIn cities that bear our names\nBut you’re going to learn\nSomething today\n‘Cause from Ferdinand\nTo minuteman\nFrom Arpaio\nTo Alamo\nFrom Popol Vuh\nTo Yo Soy Joaquin\nTo the Indian that still lives in me\nFrom Mexico 68\nTo the missing 43\nThey tried to bury us\nThey didn’t know we were seeds\nFrom Cananea mine\nTo Delano strike \nFrom the Plan De Ayala\nEmiliano Zapata\nJoaquin Murrieta\nLas Adelitas\nBrown Berets\nAnd Zapatistas\nFrom Richard Nixon\nTo the Third Napoleon\nFrom Peckinpah\nTo Houston\nFrom Lone Star Republic\nTo Christopher Columbus\nAll the way down\nTo Donald f—g Trump\nWe didn’t cross the borders\nThe borders crossed us\nWho you calling immigrant\nPilgrim?\n"}