Poet Thea Matthews
Poet, activist, and scholar Thea Matthews grew up in the Excelsior, which to this day is still a largely ungentrified, working-class neighborhood in San Francisco.
In Part 1, Thea talks about growing up as a Black/Mexican/Indigenous kid with a single mom in San Francisco in the 1990s. Most of her childhood experiences with her Blackness were negative, but they later formed a backdrop to her embracing that aspect of her life. Her views of the city, in all its complexity, inspire a lot of her poetry to this day.
Toward the middle of the podcast, Thea reads her poem "St. Francis."
ST. FRANCIS
BY THEA MATTHEWS
St. Francis sold out
abandoned his years
of feeding the people
tending to the poor
St. Francis sold out
he wanted
more
more
more new money
more new cafés
more new palm trees
more new condos
more families displaced
more overdoses
more encampments
more more
more
St. Francis sold out
bought out
gave out
stripped
the land
stole and
renovated
homes
only to place “for sale” signs
for the incoming upper-class
St. Francis is a con
a thief
a liar
St. Francis don’t give two shits
about you all he wants
is new money
driving tech start-ups
be a shiny new car
for someone who
ignores the blight on their blockwhile whining about the president
and human rights issues
at least
four states away.
She ends Part 1 talking about embracing her Blackness and drawing strength from it.
Please visit Thea's website to learn more.
Thea is a powerful poet.
In Part 2, Thea talks about the early days of her writing and performing poetry. She helped established the Black Student Union at City College and later went to UC Berkeley, commuting the whole time from her home in The City.
Later in Part 2, Thea reflects on the current uprising for racial and social justice. And she ends the podcast by reading four poems: "Gazonia," "Azalea Rhododendron," Fuchsia Fuchsia magellanica," and the prelude ("Praeludium") to her book of poems that comes out on June 20, Unearth [the Flowers], which you can buy at Green Apple Books, Bookshop, or your local bookstore.
We recorded this podcast over Zoom in June 2020.
Film photography by Michelle Kilfeather
