Rudy K. Francisco (born July 27, 1982) is an American spoken word poet and writer.[1][2][3][4] He has won several poetry slams and written six books of poetry: Getting Stitches, Scratch, No Gravity, No Gravity Part II, Helium, and I'll Fly Away.[5] He made an appearance on TV One's Verses and Flow and performed his spoken word poems "Complainers" and "Rifle" on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[6][7][8][9]
Rudy Francisco | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 27, 1982 San Diego, California |
| Education | Alliant International University |
| Occupation | Poet |
Early life
editRudy Francisco was born and raised in San Diego, California and is of Belizean decent.[10][11] He wrote a love poem as part of a writing assignment in his senior year of high school and received high marks for it.[3][12]
Francisco was inspired watching HBO's Def Poetry Jam. He began to go to open mics in his area until they were closed due to gentrification.[8] With a group of local poets and activists called "Collective Purpose", he opened an open mic known as Elevated in San Diego, which has been open for over ten years.[3]
Francisco attended Alliant International University in San Diego. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and pursued a master's degree in industrial and organizational psychology.[13] Francisco was a resident assistant at his school and started hosting open mics.[12] He was invited to other open mics and met other poets through them.[13] He worked as a statistical analyst and completed three years of a Ph.D. program before quitting to do poetry full-time.[1][13]
Poetry career
editFrancisco first got into performance poetry after going to open mics and watching a show that featured the poet Shihan and falling in love with the style.[13] He says that reading The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten was pivotal moment in his life as a poet.[14] Francisco has performed in competitions as well as shows around the world.[12]
Francisco wrote his debut poetry book Getting Stitches in 2013, then Scratch in 2014, No Gravity in 2015, and his first full-length book Helium in 2017, which was published by Button Poetry. It took Francisco a year and a half to write the collection of 58 poems.[13] Helium received positive reviews.[5][15][16] When asked what Helium means in an interview, Francisco states that "helium allows you to defy gravity" and “in a lot of ways poetry always gave me that temporary escape.”[13] Themes for Helium include race, class, gender, love, and self-reflection.[13] His style for his poems encompasses "personal and political narratives through an honest and humorous approach."[10]
Francisco is the founder and current coach of the San Diego Poetry Slam Team, which won the 2017 National Poetry Slam Championship.[17][18]
Francisco performed his spoken-word poem "Complainers" on his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 1, 2018.[6][7] Rudy Francisco is the first to perform a full-length poem on the show. Many of his poems are on YouTube, some of which, like "Scars/To the New Boyfriend" have accumulated over two million views.[19] He has also grown a large following on Instagram with over 250,000 followers.[20]
Personal life
editFrancisco has said that the slam community allows one be a part of a family, saying “some of my closest friends are people I have been on teams with or competed against. It is what keeps me coming back around.”[13]
Francisco has a five-year-old daughter.[13]
Tours and events
editFrancisco toured the UK in May and June 2018.[21] In early June of 2018, Button Poetry announced on Facebook that performances scheduled for India with Sabrina Benaim were cancelled due to "scheduling and organizational issues."[22] He performed at the August 2018 slam poetry competition in Chicago, representing the San Diego team.[13] Francisco went on tour in October in the UK with fellow poets Neil Hilborn and Sabrina Benaim.[21] On April 30, 2019, he performed at Beltway Poetry Slam in Washington, D.C. He was the host city coordinator for the May 13, 2019 Individual World Poetry Slam in Southern California.[13]
Books of poetry
edit- Getting Stitches (2013)
- Scratch (2014)
- No Gravity (2015)
- No Gravity Part II (2016)
- Helium (2017)
- I'll Fly Away (2020)
- Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky (2023)
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Verses and Flow[9] | Season 3 Episode 8 |
| 2018 - 2019 | The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon | 2 episodes |
| 2021 | The Bachelorette[23] | Season 18 Episode 3 |
| Year | Title | Channel | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Scars/To the New Boyfriend | speakeasynyc | |
| A Lot Like You | Marc Bacani | ||
| 2013 | Sons | Button Poetry | With Terisa Siagatonu |
| 2014 | Complainers | ||
| 2015 | My Honest Poem |
Poetry awards
edit- 2007 San Diego Grand Slam Champion
- 2007 Poet of the People Slam Champion
- 2008 Member of the Hollywood Poetry Slam Team
- 2009 National Underground Poetry Individual Champion
- 2009 3rd place in the Individual World Poetry Slam
- 2010 La Poloma Slam Champion
- 2010 Chico Invitational Slam Champion
- 2010 San Diego Grand Slam Champion
- 2010 San Francisco Grand Slam Champion
- 2010 Member of the San Diego Poetry Slam Team (Regional Champion/6th ranked team in the nation)
- 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Slam Champion
- 2017 National Poetry Slam Champion (as part of the San Diego Poetry Slam Team)[24]
References
edit- ^ a b Jones, Zoe (2016-05-26). "Rudy Francisco Shares Truth in Poetry". The Daily Nexus. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ^ Reed, Parker (2014-11-18). "Rudy Francisco performance review". Iowa State Daily. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ^ a b c Henderson, Edward (11 April 2016). "Rudy Francisco Takes Spoken Word to New Heights". Voice and Viewpoint. Archived from the original on 2017-12-31. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ^ Rudy Francisco - My Honest Poem (video), Button Poetry, 2015-11-23, retrieved 2018-07-30
- ^ a b Chaney, Sam (2018-04-04). "National Poetry Month: must-read contemporary poetry". UNF Spinnaker. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ a b Spoken-Word Poet Rudy Francisco Performs His Poem "Complainers", NBC, 2018-03-01, retrieved 2018-04-17
- ^ a b Cantor, Brian (2018-03-01). "Darren Criss Appears On "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"". Headline Planet. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ a b Spoken-Word Poet Rudy Francisco Performs His Poem "Rifle" (video), The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 2019-04-18, retrieved 2019-05-12
- ^ a b WALTON ISAACSON (2013-10-24), Lexus Verses and Flow Season 3: Fiveology's Performance, retrieved 2019-05-13
- ^ a b "From a Stutter to 'Tonight Show': How Rudy Francisco Became a Poetry Slam Champion". L.A. TACO. 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
- ^ Hurley, Naomi (2017-09-26). "Poet Rudy Francisco Visits SMCM". The BayNet. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ a b c "Interview: Rudy Francisco, The Artist Room - CMYK". CMYK. 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Book Circle Online (2018-03-29), Rudy Francisco discusses "Helium" | Book Circle Online, retrieved 2018-08-05[dead link]
- ^ Evan Sanford (2016-04-09), Inside the Studio with Evan Sanford - Rudy Francisco Interview, retrieved 2019-05-12
- ^ Westbrook, Georgia (2017-11-27). "Reaching an emotional high with "Helium"". Pipe Dream. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ McDonald, Sara M. (2018-01-29). "Button Poetry's Rudy Francisco's first book triumphs". The Crow's Nest. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ "Congratulations to San Diego Poetry Slam, the 2017 National Poetry Slam Champions!". Poetry Slam Inc. Archived from the original on 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ Diele, Jonina (2017-08-02). "6 Teams You Don't Want To Miss At the National Poetry Slam". 303 Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
- ^ speakeasynyc (2012-03-18), Rudy Francisco "Scars/To the New Boyfriend", retrieved 2019-05-12
- ^ "Rudy Francisco (@rudyfrancisco) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2019-05-13.
- ^ a b "Rudy Francisco". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
- ^ "Button Poetry". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
- ^ Dobin, Marenah (2021-11-03). "All the Details on The Bachelorette Season 18 Episode 3 Fashion". E! Online. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
- ^ Henderson, Edward (24 August 2017). "San Diego Poetry Slam Team Celebrates National Championship Win". Voice and Viewpoint. Archived from the original on 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2018-04-17.