Poetry Today: Kathryn Smith and Matt Sedillo

Matt Sedillo is a Chicano poet, writer, creative director, and public intellectual. He is the current literary director of the dA Center for the Arts and author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (Flowersong Press, 2019). His forthcoming collection of poetry is City on the Second Floor.

INTRODUCTION

Some of the best general advice I would offer to poets is the same as I would offer anyone serious about their work. Learn to work when no one is watching. Learn to delay your need for gratification. Make excellence its own reward.

I would tell poets specifically that they should pursue excellence in their craft and write about the subjects they are deeply passionate about. Write well about something important. I would also advise that they should become students of their own best work. It is vital that we understand why we make the choices we do when we write our best work. I would advise poets to become students of their own mind. I am certain that the study of our own best impulses is the surest way to develop a signature style.

Develop a style. Turn that style into a discipline. Turn that discipline into a standard of excellence you hold yourself to every time. Become the world’s leading expert as to why you are excellent. The guiding logic and subtle nuance of your genius can be a mystery to the audience, but it should never be a mystery to you. Move the production of your own unique brilliance from your unconscious mind to your conscious one. Once you have developed your own standard of excellence no one can ever discredit you. Once you develop your own standard of excellence you will never find yourself insecure or unsure of your talent seeking some outside validation to reassure you of the quality of your work. You will know your work’s quality better than anyone.