Kingdom of Cages
by Matt Sedillo
Los Angeles, city of pigs, kingdom of cages
Database, the Fuhrman tapes, the Ayres report
Darryl Gates, Tom Bradley, Lee Baca, Willie Parker
The red lines, red squads, ramparts, Rodney King
The thin blue line on an all-white jury
Murderous metropolis that kills for appearances
Chicano Moratorium, eighty-four Olympics
CRASH, the battering ram
Twin towers, Operation Hammer, Safe city
La Loma, Bishop, Palo Verde, Arcadia
Los Angeles is a city designed to be divided
Postcard paradise, gentleman’s apartheid
Service and protection, 41st and Central
SWAT, Watts, Sleepy Lagoon
Open shop, open season
The killer of children take the shot
They were sworn to protect
As we serve as their moving targets, their bleeding borders
Their open frontiers, the neighborhood threat
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
As they shoot us as we run
Jesse Romero was fourteen years old
When murdered by the LAPD
Los Angeles, city of pigs, kingdom of cages
Matt Sedillo is an LA based poet, former national poetry slam champion and the first ever literary director of the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona California. Along with Irene Monica Sanchez, he is curating a quarterly series, “Narratives of the Southwest” at Beyond Baroque in Venice, beginning Feb. 10 (see calendar listing) in association with the Pacifica Radio Archives’ Mark Torres. These productions will combine the work of poets, writers and academics into events where the audience will both be moved and learn something new.
