The Sea

 

Whatever it is we are doing

It is only making the storm stronger

There is land under the water

And there too we drill

Capitalists dream of bottomless pits

Then piss and shit the bed plastic

All life began in the ocean

And there too we kill

There are mountains under the water

Cities too I imagine

Arrogant and delusional

One day the sea will swallow us whole

 

 

 

 

 

Storm Warnings

 

When it finally

All goes down

When the titanic

Finally sinks

When there is nowhere

Left to hide the money

When the alps finally melt

When Switzerland

Becomes a barren desert

And the Caymans

Are buried

Miles below

Sea level

The fortune five hundred

Will set up

Tax shelters

On the moon

A storm is brewing

From the winds of Fukushima

From the ash of three mile island

From criminal negligence

From the killing plunder

You can hear the distant thunder

Strip the earth to feed industry

Strip mine the country

To enrich the city

Milk the city

To engorge the capital

Make weapons capable

Of destroying the planet

Turn profit

From tankers that poison

The ocean

Factories that darken the sky

And a storm is brewing

From the ghosts of Bhopal

From the graveyard of exxon valdes

From the soot that is rising

Out of an industrial revolution

A commercial revolution

A Chevy revolution

Inviting you to

Join the mad chorus

As the rubber hits the road

From the fall

Of the rain forest

Show

Those

Who would live

In natural rhythm

Villages

That would raise children

To the tune

Of a rain drop’s

Song

The savagery

Mechanical man

Is capable of

Let them know

That a storm is a comin

That a hard acid rain is going to fall

From the Yellow River

To the Niger Delta

From the Cuyahoga

To the holes

In the o zone

Over New Delhi

Mexico city

And Cairo

From the geological crime scene

Of the river Ganges

To the bitter harvest

Of terminator seeds

From the mountain tops

Chopped off

In the heart

Of Appalachia

From the Canadian tar sands

To the coal seams of the badlands

To the polluted streams of Gasland

There is nowhere to run

There is nowhere to hide

No shelter from this time

And a storm is a brewing

And you had best beware

For what profits a man

Should he gain the world

But cannot breath its air

And this is no way to live

Because this land

This sky

The sea

Was made

For you and for me

For us and for we

For them and for they

Who are not yet born

Who have yet to hear

A single rain drops song

So our hearts are stirring

Our feet are marching

The choir is rising

So to those who would

Turn this earth

To wasteland

Our home

To landmine

To save a nickel

Or scrape thin dimes

With their eyes

Set on mountains of profit

Well you had best

Batten down the hatches

Cross your fingers

And lock your doors

Because a storm is brewing

And you have

Been warned

 

 

 

 

The Rich

 

The rich

Well they’re not like you and me

They see an opportunity

And they grab it

Reach for the stars

And they put em in their pocket

Company stays in the red

But they’re backed by the government

Snort the public dime

Into lines of pure profit

Research and development

The rich

Well they’re a different breed

Champagne wishes and

Caviar dreams

Thoroughbred stallions

Quarter billion mansions on the sea

Deepwater horizon

Blood diamonds

Golden parachutes

Silicon messiahs

Feasting

On endangered species

Served on silver platters

In winter palaces

Carved from the tips of icebergs

Six figure charters

Vulture capital

Million dollar cufflinks

Plucking life like an apple

Insured by suicide nets

Lifestyles

Of the criminally negligent

But you havent lived

Until you’ve launched a car into space

For no fucking reason

Now that’s what I call freedom

The rich

Well here’s how it is

Dollars and cents

Trademark and rent

Facts and figures

Lines on a ledger

Derivatives and debt

Building the future

Increasing productivity

Union busting back

To the hundred hour work week

Producing monopolies

With real money

Shortages and bets

And that my friend

Is how the rich stay rich

While the rest

Make poor decisions

One city

One factory

One family

One boarded window

At a time

And its pure ecstasy

Living in the lap of luxury

Selling pharmaceuticals

At the mark up

The market

Will bare your body

To its altar

At a life or death bargain

The gospel of wealth

Cause it is what it is

And that’s all its ever been

The less we spend

The more we keep

You see

The rich

And the poor

Well they’re just like you and me

Two hands

Two feet

The sky

The sea

Everything between

One heart that beats

And the time

to make the most of it

So you’ll find no sympathy

Reaching into these deep pockets

All we ever asked was our fair share

And god damn it

That’s all of it

It’s ridiculous

You know you need us

You know we’re selling your secrets

You know you’re still sending us DNA kits

While you’re out in the streets

Screaming for peace and justice

We’re sleeping in satin sheets

Counting numbers jump over screens

Liquidating pensions

Waiting on us to wake to bid

On porcelain and portraits

At billion dollar auctions

So you got pots and pans

Well we got deeds and plans

Chopping down rainforest

Colonizing the moon

Were the rich

Who the fuck are you

Watching the tv puppets

Debate free speech fascism

freedom democracy

While we reach into the earth

Break ground

Punch through o zone

And fuel the economy

But no worries

We got

Spacestations

Hydrating the red planet

Were gonna survive this lava pit

And if we dont then at least

We’ll die rich

You want to fight

We’ll just privatize the water supply

Then copyright  the tears falling from your eyes

Burn it all down

What the fuck are you talking about

The icecaps are already melting

Eat the rich

We’re already killing your god damn kids

One coral reef

One cancer alley

One carbon footrpirnt

one gashouse emission

One oil rig

One no bid

One warship at a time

and well get away with it too

nothing we say or do

will ever be used

against us

havent you been paying attention

were rich

 

 

 

About Matt Sedillo

 

Matt Sedillo has been described as the “best political poet in America” as well as “the poet laureate of the struggle” by academics, poets, and journalists alike. He has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, at numerous conferences and forums such as the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including the University of Cambridge, among many others. He is the current literary director of the dA Center for the Arts and author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (Flowersong Press, 2019), which is currently being taught at California State University at Northridge and Monterey Bay, as well as at Mission College. His Three Act Poem structure has been taught as capstones of coursework at UCLA and Occidental College. His next poetry collection, City on the Second Floor, will be published January 2021.

Born in El Sereno, California in 1981, Matt Sedillo writes from the vantage point of a second generation Chicano born in an era of diminishing opportunities and a crumbling economy. His writing – a fearless, challenging and at times even confrontational blend of humor, history and political theory – is a reflection of those realities.

The poetry of Matt Sedillo is in turn a shot in the arm of pure revolutionary adrenaline and at others a sobering call for the fundamental restructuring of society in the interest of people not profits. Passionate, analytical, humorous and above all sincere, a revolutionary poet fortunate enough to be living in interesting times, the artistry of Matt Sedillo is a clarion call for all those who know a new world is not only possible but inevitable.​

 

Learn more about Matt and his work, see his website: https://www.mattsedillo.com/