the different uses of a gun, highlighting the similar effect they have on

“Depression is a white man’s privilege, we don’t have the privilege to have that much time to ourselves.”, Such an important message especially after the recent World Mental Health day and for families who are from a different cultural background who don’t really understand mental health. #helium #love He was born, raised and still resides in San Diego, California. She performs this poem with ease, switching from the narrator (being herself) into different characters (being the different women of Long Island). Let me just say that deciding on just 10 poems to showcase was quite difficult because there are so many talented artists. climate change, this one’s for you. through personification as regardless of “where [they] were”, water “would In-Depth Look: Rudy Francisco – “The Heart and The Fist”.

#poets She also expresses that these women hold all their family members accountable for any incident, as a girl who was “murdered jogging in Queens” doesn’t provoke them to warn their daughters but instead their sons who have their “husband’s hands and blood.”, “What’s a poem if it doesn’t dismantle or split, burn or crack. 2013 Scotch Tape (EP) 2012 Human (EP) No Gravity 2. And isn't that what masculinity has become?

Rudy Francisco. I would recommend watching this one in a place where you feel comfortable).

It means to take an object and give it amnesia. and isn't that what masculinity has become? Spoken-word poet Rudy Francisco delivers a heartfelt poem called "Rifle" from his book Helium.

I would love to hear from you! He was born, raised and still resides in San Diego, California. So somewhere there's a tambourine, a drum set, a guitar, It makes a critique, and it also offers hope, all through the lens of individual experience (as opposed to finger-pointing or abstract intellectualizing). Francisco’s “Helium.”. Please check out Button Poetry’s privacy policy. 2017 Getting Stitches. I think this poem speaks for itself. He was born, raised and still resides in San Diego, California. “have to deal with them.” This shock is emphasised through alliteration of that puts life back into people's bodies, and from this I learned that even our most, destructive instruments can still create a melody. My fist 5 pennies, Side note: Sarah Kay was one of the first slam poets my teacher introduced to us and the first time I learnt about slam poetry.

Francisco uses a metaphor to describe the limitless nature Mild-mannered supplement salesman Mark Manstrong says the magic words “MAN UP,” and then transforms into THE FIVE O’CLOCK SHADOW, the massively-muscled, deep-voiced, leather-duster-wearing super-man who defends the world from, I don’t know, feelings.”. This line stood out for me as Francisco describes that whilst difficult situations can be dealt with pragmatically, they will always be accompanied by tragedy and silence. They did not call to warn their daughters, they called their sons, sat them at the kitchen table and said “if you ever, I mean ever so much as make a woman feel unconformable, I will take you to the deli and put your hand in the meat slicer. through figurative language as it “wrings [his] joy like a dishrag and makes juice

Such a good reminder to us all.

I am learning that a person who only knows how to fight can only communicate in violence, blog post for that matter but I’M BACK WITH ANOTHER REVIEW! Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. You see, once, I came across a picture of a strange-looking violin. “A weapon will always be a weapon, but we choose how we fight the war.”. I will make a hero out of you with mayonnaise, tomatoes, dill and onion.”, Gatwood salutes the women of Long Island as the title implies and illustrates the strength these women hold. I write poems and say them out loud...sometimes . For those of us who say ‘we’re alright’ and continue through Rudy speaks about the difference between a garden and a graveyard in this powerful poem. Here, he personifies these two words highlighting their simultaneous nature. And that shouldn't be anyone's first language. had read about “dragons and droughts” but never imagined he would

However, this is by no means the best performances but poems that really stood out for me and are easily accessible. I’m thinking about poems that are around three minutes long, poems that begin with some kind of fact, anecdote, or statistic, poems that introduce an image at the beginning and then loop back around to re-contextualize that same image at the end, poems that have a clear, specific thesis statement supported by a structural arc in which every new idea relates back to that thesis, poems that start softly and then build in intensity as they move (only to end back in a softer place), poems that use personal narrative to support some larger idea– all of these techniques are present here, as they are in so many spoken word poems (including my own), yet this poem doesn’t feel stale, or “samey,” which is the common critique of so much spoken word.

Yelling at the shadow on the wall, Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. The first time one of my classmates took a 'Yo Mama' joke a little too far I remembered my training,