Home > Author > Rudy Francisco
1 " My biggest fear is forgetting why I fell in love with writing. My biggest dream is never allowing that to happen. "
― Rudy Francisco
2 " Instead of asking why they left,now I ask,what beauty will I createin the space the no longeroccupy? "
3 " Failure is when you talk yourself out of becoming something amazing. "
4 " Aren't we all waiting to be read by someone, praying that they'll tell us that we make sense? "
5 " You want to know how I got these scars? I ripped every last piece of you out of my smile. "
6 " She asks me to kill the spider. Instead, I get the most peaceful weapons I can find. I take a cup and a napkin. I catch the spider, put it outside and allow it to walk away. If I am ever caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, just being alive and not bothering anyone, I hope I am greeted with the same kind of mercy. "
― Rudy Francisco , Helium
7 " Loving youwas the last thingI felt really good at. "
8 " On May 26th, 2003, Aaron Ralston was hiking, a boulder fell on his right hand, he waited four days, he then amputated his own arm with a pocketknife. On New Year’s Eve, a woman was bungee jumping, the cord broke, she fell into a river and had to swim back to land in crocodile-infested waters with a broken collarbone. Claire Champlin was smashed in the face by a five-pound watermelon being propelled by a slingshot. Mathew Brobst was hit by a javelin. David Striegl was actually punched in the mouth by a kangaroo. The most amazing part of these stories is when asked about the experiencethey all smiled, shrugged and said “I guess things could’ve been worse.” So go ahead, tell me you’re having a bad day. Tell me about the traffic. Tell me about your boss. Tell me about the job you’ve been trying to quit for the past four years. Tell me the morning is just a townhouse burning to the ground and the snooze button is a fire extinguisher. Tell me the alarm clock stole the keys to your smile, drove it into 7 am and the crash totaled your happiness. Tell me. Tell me how blessed are we to have tragedy so small it can fit on the tips of our tongues.When Evan lost his legs he was speechless. When my cousin was assaulted she didn’t speak for 48 hours. When my uncle was murdered,we had to send out a search party to find my father’s voice. Most people have no idea that tragedy and silence often have the exact same address. When your day is a museum of disappointments,hanging from events that were outside of your control, when you feel like your guardian angel put in his two weeks notice two months ago and just decided not to tell you, when it seems like God is just a babysitter that’s always on the phone, when you get punched in the esophagus by a fistful of life. Remember, every year two million people die of dehydration. So it doesn’t matter if the glass is half full or half empty. There’s water in the cup. Drink it and stop complaining. Muscle is created by lifting thingsthat are designed to weigh us down. When your shoulders are heavy stand up straight and call it exercise. Life is a gym membership with a really complicated cancellation policy. Remember, you will survive, things could be worse, and we are never given anything we can’t handle. When the whole world crumbles, you have to build a new one out of all the pieces that are still here. Remember, you are still here. The human heart beats approximately 4,000 times per hour and each pulse, each throb, each palpitation is a trophy, engraved with the words “You are still alive.” You are still alive. So act like it. "
9 " To anyone who is brave enough to love me,do you know that human body is sixty percent water approximately.So when I walk into a room filled with water all I see is an ocean "
10 " Never ever forget that you are a constellation and I have owned a telescope since the day I was born. "
11 " When you choose to be a poet, when you choose to spill like this, bleed like this, cry like this, your pain becomes an exhibit. A place for people to walk through and then leave when they are ready. No one ever asks a museum if it's okay. "
12 " If I could I would nail these hands to the edges of stars. I would sacrifice this body to the sky hoping to resurrect as someone spiteful enough to not care about you. "
13 " I was 18 wen I started drivingI was 18 the first time I was pulled over.It was 2 AM on a SaturdayThe officer spilled his lights all over my rearview mirror,he splashed out of the car with his hand already on his weapon,and looked at me the way a tsunami looks at a beach house.Immediately, I could tell he was the kind of manwho brings a gun to a food fight.He called me sonand I thought to myself,that's an interesting way of pronouncing "boy,"He asks for my license and registration,wants to know what I'm doing in this nieghborhood,if the car is stolen,if I have any drugsand most days, I know how to grab my voiceby the handle and swing it like a hammer.But instead,I picked it up like a shard of glass.Scared of what might happen if I didn't hold it carefullybecause I know that this much melaninand that uniform is a plotline to a film thatcan easily end with a chalk outline baptism,me trying to make a body bag look stylish for the cameraand becoming the newest coat in a closet full of RIP hashtags.Once, a friend of a friend asked mewhy there aren't more black people in the X Gamesand I said, "You don't get it."Being black is one of the most extreme sports in America.We don't need to invent new ways of risking our livesbecause the old ones have been working for decades.Jim Crow may have left the nest,but our streets are still covered with its feathers.Being black in America is knowing there's a thin linebetween a traffic stop and the cemetery,it's the way my body tenses upwhen I hear a police siren in a song,it's the quiver in my stomach when a cop car is behind me,it's the sigh of relief when I turn right and he doesn't.I don't need to go volcano surfing.Hell, I have an adrenaline rush every time an officerdrives right past without pulling me overand I realizeI'm going to make it home safe.This time. "
14 " I have an odd fascination with sandcastlesand ice sculptures:things that will only last a few moments.That’s also why I fall in love with womenwho will never love me back. "
15 " To anyone who is brave enough to love me,Do you know that the human body is approximately sixty percent water? When I walk into a room full of people all I see is an ocean. "
16 " Yes, I'm fine; yes, I'm always fine. No, I'm not just saying that so you'll leave me alone. "
― Rudy Francisco , I'll Fly Away
17 " I was toldThe average girl begins to plan her wedding at the age of 7She picks the colors and the cake firstBy the age of 10 She knows time,And locationBy 17She’s already chosen a gown2 bridesmaidsAnd a maid of honorBy 23 She’s waiting for a manWho wont break out in hives when he hears the word “commitment”Someone who doesn’t smell like a Band-Aid drenched in lonely Someone who isn’t a temporary solution to the empty side of the bedSomeoneWho’ll hold her hand like it’s the only one they’ve ever seenTo be honestI don’t know what kind of tux I’ll be wearingI have no clue what want my wedding will look likeBut I imagineThe women who pins my last to hersWill butterfly down the aisleLike a 5 foot promiseI imagineHer smileWill be so large that you’ll see it on google mapsAnd know exactly where our wedding is being heldThe woman that I plan to marryWill have champagne in her walkAnd I will get drunk on her footstepsWhen the pastor asksIf I take this woman to be my wifeI will say yes before he finishes the sentenceI’ll apologize later for being impoliteBut I will also explain himThat our first kiss happened 6 years agoAnd I’ve been practicing my “Yes”For past 2, 165 daysWhen people ask me about my weddingI never really know what to sayBut when they ask me about my future wifeI always tell themHer eyes are the only Christmas lights that deserve to be seen all year longI sayShe thinks too muchMisses her fatherLoves to laughAnd she’s terrible at lyingBecause her face never figured out how to do it correctlI tell themIf my alarm clock sounded like her voiceMy snooze button would collect dust I tell themIf she came in a bottleI would drink her until my vision is blurry and my friends take away my keysIf she was a bookI would memorize her table of contentsI would read her cover-to-coverHoping to find typosJust so we can both have a few things to work onBecause aren’t we all unfinished?Don’t we all need a little editing?Aren’t we all waiting to be proofread by someone?Aren’t we all praying they will tell us that we make sense She don’t always make senseBut her imperfections are the things I love about her the mostI don’t know when I will be marriedI don’t know where I will be marriedBut I do know thisWhenever I’m asked about my future wifeI always say…She’s a lot like you "
18 " I bet if we dusted her heart for fingerprints, we’d only find yours. "
19 " I loved you the same way that I learned how to ride a bike: Scared… but reckless. "
20 " I'm still learning to love the parts of me that no one claps for. "
