Some say it begins from within
Some say it has already begun
Some say wait upon conditions
Some say inevitable
Some say impossible
Some say it is a process not an event
Some carry signs
Some sign petitions
Some block politicians
Some back politicians
Some become politicians
And I have seen
Academic’s metaphysics
Swallow reality
Then spit back a peer reviewed tenure track salary
And I have seen
The organizers of labor
Embrace parties of capital
And I have seen age old cowardice
Dishonesty, careerism
Parade as groundbreakingly new
And I have seen courage
Burst into spontaneous flame
And I have seen fear in the pig’s eye
And I have seen rebellions
Light the night sky
Then fade to smoke
Some speak against the need
For political education
Some speak against the need
For party structure and discipline
But I know
Without theory
History does not move
And I know
Once the line is set
Organization is key
That there are decades
For the taking
To be wrenched from weeks
That we cannot wait upon impossible
That none can do it alone
That everyday we must work to make
Victory inevitable
That if we wish to see
Revolution
Within our lifetimes
We must
Organize
Organize
Organize
Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle." His work has drawn comparisons in print to Bertolt Brecht, Roque Dalton, Amiri Baraka, Alan Ginsberg, Carl Sandburg and various other legends of the past.
Sedillo was the recipient of the 2017 Joe Hill Labor Poetry award, a panelist at the 2020 Texas book festival, a participant in the 2012 San Francisco International Poetry Festival, the 2022 Elba Poetry Festival, and the recipient of the 2022 Dante's Laurel.
Sedillo has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Axios, the Associated Press among other publications.
Sedillo has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, at numerous conferences and forums such as the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, the National Association of Chicana/Chicano Studies, the Left Forum, the US Social Forum, and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including the University of Cambridge, among many others.
Matt Sedillo is the author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and City on the Second Floor (FlowerSong Press, 2022). Both of which are taught at universities throughout the country.
Sedillo is the current literary director of The Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles.
