Rudy Francisco

• Name — Rudy Francisco • Born — 27 July 1982 • Birthplace — San Diego, California, U.S. • Education — Alliant International University • Occupation — Poet

Rudy Francisco was born and raised in San Diego, California, and is of Belizean decent. He wrote a love poem as part of a writing assignment in his senior year of high school and received high marks for it. 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. 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. 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. Francisco was a resident assistant at his school and started hosting open mics. He was invited to other open mics and met other poets through them. He worked as a statistical analyst and completed three years of a Ph.D. program before quitting to do poetry full-time.

Francisco 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. He says that reading The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten was pivotal moment in his life as a poet. Francisco has performed in competitions as well as shows around the world. 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. Helium received positive reviews. 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.” Themes for Helium include race, class, gender, love, and self-reflection. His style for his poems encompasses "personal and political narratives through an honest and humorous approach." Francisco is the founder and current coach of the San Diego Poetry Slam Team, which won the 2017 National Poetry Slam Championship. Francisco performed his spoken-word poem "Complainers" on his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 1, 2018. 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. He has also grown a large following on Instagram with over 250,000 followers.

Francisco has said that the slam community allows one to 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.” Francisco has a five-year-old daughter.

Francisco toured the UK in May and June 2018. 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." He performed at the August 2018 slam poetry competition in Chicago, representing the San Diego team. Francisco went on tour in October in the UK with fellow poets Neil Hilborn and Sabrina Benaim. 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.

Television • Year — Title — Notes • 2013 — Verses and Flow — Season 3 Episode 8 • 2018 - 2019 — The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon — 2 episodes • 2021 — The Bachelorette — Season 18 Episode 3 Spoken Word Videos • 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