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Matt Sedillo cliques up this episode to clusterbomb the mic with F-bombs, we praise & crit a Prentice Powell performance, roast on a salty haiku, and chop it up about them poli’tricks! 

[Episode Index]

• Soil From His Fingertips” | 0:37
• Threads & Lines | 4:18
• 2 Piece | “59” by Harry Baker | 10:55
• 2 Piece | #poetry by @@costas_kournis | 27:20
• 5 For Your Eye | 34:38

I found a real love for performance poetry through A Mic and Dim Lights and people like Matt Sedillo. I remember first seeing Sedillo perform years ago and being blown away. Matt Sedillo performs with more passion and energy than any political poet I have encountered to date. Seeing him get down, early in my development, was an invaluable example of what poetry, and the passion behind it, could be…

After some years, around the time my poetry finally started to go somewhere other than my recycle bin, I invited Sedillo to come on Chubby Fat, the comedy show I host. I was apprehensive at first, not because of Matt but because I wasn’t sure how he would handle the end-of-episode performance spot we offer all of our guests on Chubby Fat. Typically on the show, the guest intros, we do the comedy rounds of the show, then spit a poem or song to close out the episode. What I got from Matt that day was unexpected, and another opportunity for revelation about what poetry could be. He performed a version of “Lorena,” a well known poem of his, but instead of the loud passionate delivery we usually get from Sedillo he gave us a soft, dare I say vulnerable, version of the piece. This political anthem about the barrio and Chicano hardships was done with a beautiful sense of earnest struggle. As he almost whispered the final lines of the poem, it revealed a side of Matt I consider myself fortunate to know: A political poet, not in this for the political or social gain, but because of a need to express and progress his people – another hurting Chicano unwilling to silently endear the struggles of his people in this country.

It was that performance style I was hoping to get out of Matt on Pen clique. I was hoping he would show the world what he has taught me: Rely on your passion, and anger, when you need it while always expressing what you earnestly feel. He did not disappoint. We got the most LIT fuck-you political poem possibly ever written! He adapted his style to fit the small venue like we saw on Chubby Fat, but still got so much of his feelings and frustrations into the piece. Often with political poets I see a minister-like delivery and attitude, but Matt has never reminded me of those people. Matt reminds me of the woke elders and artists ahead of us that have been outspoken in their lives because they can’t live with the oppression they see in their community. Matt Sedillo, as political and often loud as his poetry can be, never gives his audience anything outside of his heart and never says things to make a political point. Rather, he uses political points to express the feelings inside of a lot of Chicano people.

I wanted Matt on Pen Clique because I believe political poetry is important, and having political poets working from a benevolent place can be rare to find. The agenda may be more important than the people at times, but Matt Sedillo is an example of a poet whose politics are informed by his feelings for the people firstly. Sedillo has taught me not to be afraid to yell out my frustrations with this broken system, while always doing it with great device and the passion of a guerrero.

Write up by Daniel Hees

[Footnotes]

• Matt Sedillo: Instagram | Facebook
• 2 Piece Combo: “The System” by Prentice Powell
  
• 2 Piece Combo: #Poetry @futureDeadPoet
  
• Music byThe Dope Spot Studios Produced by Dom V
  
• Intro title & segment transitions animated by Seth Garnes