By Aja Cooper, Staff Writer

Published in print Nov.12, 2014

Poetry addicts were in for a delightful treat on Nov. 7, 2014 thanks to the Carolina Union Activities Board and UNC Chapel Hill’s spoken word organization, The Wordsmiths. The two groups teamed up and provided the public with a free opportunity to hear the poetic style of the award winning, Rudy Francisco.

Students from UNC Chapel Hill along with other North Carolina natives gathered in UNC’s Hanes Art Center to hear Francisco recite several of his poems, such as “Honest,” “Your God isn’t Mine” and “Instructions (for Black Boys)”. In 2009 Rudy Francisco became the National Underground Poetry Slam Champion. Francisco was named the San Diego Grand Slam Champion, San Francisco Grand Slam Champion and the Individual World Poetry Slam Champion in 2010. Rudy Francisco, who traveled from the sunny side of California shared with the audience how he became to be the man people see today. Not only the man, but the poet.

He said that a lot of his success has been the product of being pushed by his friends to be who they believed he had the potential to be. With the push and support from his friends, he competed in poetry slams and won numerous awards for this poetry. Francisco warmed up the crowd with his jokes and shared nuggets of wisdom and charm that you can’t just get from watching his videos via YouTube, the traditional platform that fans use to connect with him.

There was a consistent theme of honesty that held Francisco’s speech together. As he spoke with the audience he revealed truths that many people tend to hide. He spoke of the awkward teenage years he had in high school and how he has now transitioned into an awkward adult. Truths like these were used to introduce his poem “Seventeen”, a letter to his seventeen year old self. Through the telling pieces of his story as an adolescent, Rudy connected with the audience of those who are not only poetically inclined but those who are in college and still feel like they may not fit in with the stereotypical norm.

Among the audience were students of UNCG as well. Members of Writer’s INK’s Slam Team traveled to UNC to hear the talents of Mr. Francisco and hear the work of a poet who inspired some of the slam team members to write poetry and get involved with the performing of spoken word poetry. One member of Writer’s INK’s Slam Team in particular arrived to and departed from Francisco’s show in awe of being able to meet the man who played a major role in making her the poet she is today.

When speaking about getting to hear Rudy Francisco recite his poetry live, UNCG freshman Miesha Moore speaks like a child who has just met their superhero.

“I still can’t believe I finally saw my absolute favorite poet, Rudy Francisco,” said Moore. “I became so used to only being able to watch him perform from behind my computer screen, that being only a few feet away from him was surreal.”

After a spoken word session and being able to hear Francisco speak, the audience was provided the opportunity to meet Mr. Francisco, exchange handshakes, purchase his “Scratch” book and also take photos. Francisco greeted those he met with direct eye contact and a stern handshake revealing his attentiveness with everyone he met.

Miesha Moore describes meeting Francisco as being the highlight of the entire evening. “I felt like I was scrambling for words the entire time, but his humble spirit made it a little easier to do so,” said Moore. “I left the venue content with knowing I was able to express to him just how much he has inspired me.”