Rudy Francisco – Live at Icehouse

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By Button Poetry

Rudy Francisco, performing at Icehouse in Minneapolis, MN.

Transcript provided by YouTube:

00:18

what’s up minneapolis how are we doing

00:23

before I say anything else can we clap

00:25

it up for our hosts and everybody who’s

00:28

touched stage so far yeah and also also

00:36

a big shout out to the people who run

00:38

button poetry they believe that I could

00:41

write a book before I believe that I

00:43

could so can we give a huge hands clap

00:45

hand clap for them please thank you all

00:52

right so I’m gonna do some poems right

00:56

throughout these poems if you like what

00:58

you hear you don’t have to be silent

01:01

this isn’t golf you can respond right

01:05

you can do a few things right if you

01:06

like what you hear you can snap your

01:08

fingers this trys together we can snap

01:09

our fingers right that’s easy that’s a

01:11

little old-school love Jones but you

01:13

wanna do that that’s fine right you can

01:15

respond bocalee you can say oh let’s try

01:17

oh you can say what you can say let’s go

01:20

you know so throwing an Amen hallelujah

01:25

ooh kill him turn up that’s my best

01:26

friend facts any of those are completely

01:28

fine are we ready have you ready for the

01:35

first poem say let’s go

01:43

and the article says the Mexican

01:48

government confiscates approximately

01:50

30,000 illegal firearms per year when

01:54

the guns are taken they get dismantled

01:56

and the metal is used to make other

01:59

types of weapons that will later be

02:01

utilized by their military in 2012 pedro

02:06

reyes an artist from Mexico City

02:09

convinced his government to donate the

02:11

guns to him and he turned them into

02:14

musical instruments so somewhere there’s

02:19

a tambourine a drum set a guitar all

02:22

made out of things that we use to take

02:24

people’s lives but now they create a

02:27

sound that puts life back into people’s

02:29

bodies which is to say a weapon will

02:32

always be a weapon but we choose how we

02:35

fight the war and from this I learned

02:37

and from this I learned that even the

02:40

most destructive instruments can still

02:42

create a melody worth dancing to and

02:44

sometimes don’t we also call that a

02:45

battle I wonder how long it took took

02:48

events the first rifle that it can hold

02:50

a note instead of a bullet but still

02:52

fire into a crowd and make everyone move

02:55

when I was six when I was six I was

02:57

taught how to throw a punch in the 80s

02:59

that was the anti-bullying movement the

03:02

first time the first time one of my

03:04

classmates took a yo mama joke a little

03:06

too far I remembered my training so I

03:09

turned his nose into a fountain my fist

03:12

five pennies I closed my eyes made a

03:14

wish I came home with bloody knuckles

03:16

and it was the first piece of artwork my

03:19

family hung on the fridge I remember

03:21

staring at my hands the same way you

03:23

stare at a mid-term when all your

03:24

answers are correct I didn’t know what

03:26

class this was but I did know I was

03:28

passing and isn’t that what masculinity

03:31

has become a bunch of dudes afraid of

03:33

their own feelings terrified of any

03:35

emotion other than anger constantly

03:37

yelling at the shadows on the wall but

03:39

still haven’t realized that were the

03:41

ones standing in front of the light we

03:42

learn how to dodge a jab we learn how to

03:45

step in before we swing we learn the

03:47

heart is the same size as the fists but

03:49

we keep forgetting they don’t have the

03:51

same functions we keep telling each

03:54

man the up we don’t know what the

03:56

that even means we turn our boys we

03:59

turn our boys into bayonets we point

04:02

them in the wrong direction we pull

04:03

their triggers and then we just ignore

04:05

all the damage they’re doing in the

04:07

distance the word repurpose it means to

04:10

take an object and give it a Mesa it

04:13

means to make something forget what it’s

04:15

been trained to do so you can use it for

04:17

a better reason I am learning that this

04:20

body is not a shotgun I am learning that

04:23

this body is not a pistol I am learning

04:26

that a man is not defined by what he can

04:29

destroy I am learning that a person who

04:32

only knows how to fight can only

04:34

communicate in violence and that

04:35

shouldn’t be anyone’s first language I’m

04:37

learning the difference the difference

04:39

between a garden and a graveyard is only

04:43

what you choose to put in the ground you

04:45

see once once I came across a picture of

04:52

a strange-looking violin the caption

04:57

said that it was made out of a rifle I

05:07

some day that could be me thank you

05:21

how we know we good all right next home

05:26

can’t do a love poem is that alright

05:28

alright here we go so quick story right

05:34

um so me and my dad we didn’t have a

05:37

good relationship growing up so we

05:39

didn’t really talk a whole lot so what’s

05:41

crazy I don’t know a whole lot about my

05:43

father even though we lived in the same

05:45

house right and um about like six months

05:50

ago or so because we’ve gotten to a much

05:51

better place so like every now and then

05:53

like when like I’m at his house like

05:56

we’re doing like yard work or whatever

05:57

and I’m just asking him just all kind of

06:00

questions because it’s like I said I

06:02

don’t know much about him and it’s crazy

06:04

cuz we’re learning a lot about each

06:05

other and I’m learning a lot about

06:07

myself through the process right so um a

06:10

while ago we were pulling weeds and and

06:13

my middle name is Khayyam right and and

06:16

I’d asked them I was like um like how

06:18

did you come up with the name Khayyam so

06:20

he’s pulling weeds and he’s like oh I

06:22

named you after my favorite poet and

06:24

then he goes back to pulling weeds and I

06:27

was like I’m sorry what

06:30

he was like yeah um I read a poem by

06:34

this guy named Omar Khayyam and I

06:36

thought the name was cool so I chose to

06:39

give you the name and then he went back

06:41

to pulling weeds and I was like you do

06:45

realize I do poetry he’s like oh yeah

06:52

like we’re having a moment like crazy

06:57

alright so love poem um this is a medley

07:03

right all of these are also in the book

07:05

so here we go first part of this poem is

07:08

called – the girl who works at Starbucks

07:11

down the street from my house on Del Mar

07:13

Heights Road swear to God

07:14

I’m not a stalker that’s the title when

07:20

I asked you for a chai latte what I

07:24

meant to say was I was walking past I

07:27

saw you in the window to be honest I

07:31

only came in here because I had to know

07:34

what your voice sounded like instead of

07:37

saying that I got really nervous and

07:40

ordered the first thing on the menu I

07:42

don’t even know what I is or a latte for

07:47

that matter I imagined that when God

07:50

made you I bet he costs for the first

07:53

time I bet he turned to an angel gave

07:57

him a high-five and said god damn I’m

08:00

or me damn I’m good cuz he’s like God

08:03

right I spent the last five days trying

08:10

to figure out how I’m gonna do some I

08:11

self to you properly I finally figured

08:12

it out it’s gonna be something like hi

08:18

that’s all I got so far but I think it’s

08:23

I’m gonna be honest it’s not often that

08:27

I find myself eager to write about love

08:29

in fact every time I try to write about

08:31

love my hands cramp just to show me how

08:35

painful love can be sometimes my pencils

08:39

break just to prove to me that every now

08:40

and then love takes a little more work

08:43

I heard that love is blind so I’ll write

08:46

all my poems in Braille and my palms are

08:48

never actually finished because true

08:50

love is endless I’ve always believed

08:52

that real love is kind of like a

08:53

supermodel before she’s airbrush it’s

08:56

pure and imperfect just the way that God

08:58

intended I’m gonna be honest I’m not

09:00

much of a love poet but if I was to wake

09:03

up tomorrow morning and decide that I

09:05

love my first poem it would be about you

09:09

about how I love you the same way I

09:12

learned how to ride a bike scared but

09:17

reckless with no training wheels or

09:19

elbow pads so my scars can tell the

09:21

story of how I fell for you I’m gonna be

09:24

honest I’m not much of a love poet but

09:26

if I was I’d write about how I see your

09:27

face in every cloudy reflection in every

09:30

window you see I’ve written a million

09:31

poems hoping that somehow maybe some way

09:33

you’ll jump out of the page and be

09:34

closer to me see I’m not much of a love

09:36

poet but if I was I’d write about how

09:38

you have the audacity to be beautiful

09:40

even on days when everything around you

09:41

is ugly I’d write about your eyelashes

09:43

and how they are like violin strings

09:45

that plays symphonies every time you

09:46

blink if I was a love poet I’d write

09:48

about how I’m melt in front of you like

09:50

an ice sculpture every time I hear the

09:51

vibration and your voice and whenever I

09:53

see a name on the caller ID my heart

09:55

plays hopscotch inside of my chest it

09:57

climbs onto my ribs like monkey bars and

09:59

I feel like a child all over again and I

10:01

was gonna sound weird but sometimes I

10:03

prayed that God somehow turns you back

10:05

into one of my ribs just so I would

10:06

never have to spend an entire day

10:08

without you I swear I’m usually not a

10:12

love poet but if I was to wake up

10:14

tomorrow morning and decide that I was

10:16

gonna write about love my first poem it

10:23

would be about you and after all of that

10:26

she was like but how do you feel about

10:34

and I said put it like this I want to be

10:40

your ex-boyfriend stuntman I want to do

10:43

everything he never had the courage to

10:45

do like trust you see last night I had a

10:52

dream in this particular dream I died in

10:55

my dreams awoke not knowing I was still

10:56

asleep and decided to walk see that

10:58

night I walked in my sleep I slept in my

11:00

Walker walk backwards until I saw you

11:02

for the first time and I could barely

11:03

muster the courage to introduce myself

11:05

all over again you see I’ve been trying

11:07

to find the right words I’ve been trying

11:09

to take the right steps who it seems to

11:10

me like thousands of years but something

11:12

always seems to go wrong between us we

11:15

lived in Egypt I was the Pharaoh’s slave

11:17

you were his daughter loving you led to

11:18

my death that claimed I seduced you and

11:20

after they stole my life I was

11:21

resurrected as the Mason I made the

11:23

foundation for your house we met eyes

11:24

for two seconds you left and I didn’t

11:26

see you again until I died I came back

11:27

as a caterpillar I turned into a

11:29

butterfly I landed in the palm of your

11:31

hands you brushed me away in the

11:32

rejection killed me when I woke up was a

11:34

kick drum you were a snare we were both

11:36

owned by this drummer named cozy : when

11:38

he died so did we but I came back just

11:40

to look for you I left notes and random

11:42

places hoping that you would stumble

11:43

across them I carved our names in trees

11:45

and then praised it would jog your

11:46

memory I whispered your name in the wind

11:48

hoping somehow maybe some way my voice

11:51

would reach you but it didn’t then I

11:52

died I died early I died young with

11:55

bread crumbs in my hand just hoping that

11:56

she would find me but you never did so

11:58

they buried me when they buried me they

12:00

put these coins over my eyes and I use

12:02

them as bus fare to get back to earth

12:04

just so I could look for you

12:08

that’s why that’s why sometimes when we

12:12

hold hands every so often

12:15

I hold on a little too tight and I’m

12:17

sorry I just don’t want to lose you

12:21

again my mother told me when you find

12:25

the perfect woman you got to do whatever

12:28

it takes to make sure she stays next to

12:45

how’re we doing we good so um this next

12:56

poem so uh one day I was I was driving

12:59

in downtown San Diego and I saw a man he

13:04

was holding a sign and when I got close

13:07

enough to see what was on the sign it

13:08

said God hates gays right so my friends

13:13

in the passenger see he sees me see the

13:14

sign right and he sees that I’m like

13:16

noticeably like angry about it right and

13:19

then he turns to me and he’s like why

13:22

are you so mad about that that doesn’t

13:24

have anything to do with you right so I

13:27

tell him I say if we only concern

13:30

ourselves with the things that directly

13:32

affect us we’re gonna be very surprised

13:34

at what indirectly affects us later

13:36

right and what and what I mean by that

13:38

is that often people have marginalized

13:41

groups feel like their struggles are

13:42

completely different when if we actually

13:44

take the time to dialogue across margins

13:46

we will realize that our struggles are

13:48

far similar than they are different

13:49

right so so I went home right and I

13:55

wrote this poem as a letter to this man

13:59

holding the sign so you ready for the

14:01

poem say let’s go you know it’s funny

14:08

how we can believe that we are created

14:11

in God’s image and then recreate God in

14:15

ours a letter to the man standing on the

14:21

corner holding a sign that said God

14:24

hates gays you know I’ve never seen

14:29

exactly who it is that you paperclip

14:32

your knees melts your hands together and

14:33

pray to but I think I know what he looks

14:35

like a bunch of gods about 510

14:37

Betty weighs 185 he probably stands the

14:41

way a high school diploma does when it’s

14:43

next to a GED I bet you God

14:46

bicha God has a mullet I bet he wears

14:50

flannel shirts with no sleeves the fanny

14:51

pack and says words like get er done a

14:55

mr. Kyle plays the banjo I bet he

14:57

watches FoxNews Dog the Bounty Hunter

14:59

voted for Donald Trump and loves Bill

15:01

O’Reilly a bunch of God’s a politician

15:03

from Arizona I bet his high school

15:06

served racism in the cafeteria and

15:09

offered hate speech as a second language

15:11

everybody has a swastika on the inside

15:13

of his throat and racial slurs tattooed

15:16

to his tongue just to make intolerance

15:17

more comfortable in his mouth I bet he

15:19

has a burning cross as a middle finger

15:21

and Jim Crow underneath his nails your

15:24

God is a Confederate flags wet dream

15:27

conceived on his count a day when the

15:29

sky decided to slice her own wrist a

15:31

a God has a drinking problem I bet

15:33

he sees the bottom of a shot glass more

15:35

often than his own children I bet he

15:37

pours whiskey on his dreams until they

15:39

taste like good ideas probably cusses

15:41

like an electric guitar with rats

15:44

plugged into an ocean I bet he yells

15:46

like a schizophrenic nail gun damaging

15:49

all things that care about him enough to

15:50

get closer but there were angels in

15:52

heaven with black eyes and broken halos

15:54

who claimed they fell down the stairs I

15:56

bet your god a of God would’ve

15:58

made Eve without a mouth and taught her

16:00

how to spread her legs like a magazine

16:01

that she will never be pretty enough to

16:04

be in sooner or later you’ll realize

16:06

that you are praying to your own shadow

16:08

that you are standing in front of

16:09

mirrors and works to bring your own

16:11

reflection your gods stole my God’s

16:14

identity so next time you bend your

16:18

knees next time you bow your head I want

16:22

you to tell your God that my god is

16:28

looking for him thank you

16:45

so all of those are in the book but I

16:48

wanted to read a couple things that are

16:50

not memorized but are also in the book

16:54

how y’all feelin y’all good good okay

17:11

so I was working on a project with a

17:13

friend of mine he asked me to write

17:15

something because we’re having a really

17:17

interesting dialogue about about the

17:19

environment right a lot of things that

17:21

are happening and um I live in

17:23

California San Diego to be exact and

17:25

we’re going through a drought right now

17:28

and it’s it’s actually kind of

17:31

terrifying right because like like

17:34

they’re asking us like to like monitor

17:36

how much water we’re using you know

17:40

there that’s going to like water our

17:42

lawns less and of course like these are

17:44

things that are like totally like doable

17:46

right but it was since we’re putting

17:48

precautions in place like it makes me

17:50

nervous about like okay like how much

17:53

longer can we live the way that we are

17:55

living because the way that we’re living

17:57

isn’t sustainable right so here we go in

18:04

one of my earliest memories I am eight

18:07

years old I have a fistful of afternoon

18:10

and I’m asking the summer if it will

18:13

always be this glorious I remember

18:16

taking a deep breath trying to get as

18:19

much July into my lungs as humanly

18:21

possible thinking maybe I’d be able to

18:24

convince it that 31 days just isn’t

18:26

enough in my neighborhood owning a slip

18:30

and slide made you a royal family in my

18:34

neighborhood we’d fill up our super

18:36

soakers and shoot each other for hours

18:37

and if you didn’t have one you were just

18:39

a target in my neighborhood in my

18:43

neighborhood we’d run through the

18:45

sprinklers like someone who wasn’t the

18:47

boss of us said that we couldn’t back

18:49

then the water just seemed endless

18:51

like he didn’t have limits and corners

18:54

and edges but no matter where we were if

18:58

we called out for water it would just

19:00

come running when I was a kid dragons

19:05

and droughts were two things I read

19:07

about in books we never thought I’d

19:08

actually have to deal with I’m born and

19:11

raised in California and here our models

19:15

and our rivers look like they’re both on

19:17

the same diet throughout the years I’ve

19:19

watched both get smaller and now I can

19:22

see their ribs when they exhale in

19:25

freeways are decorated with signs that

19:26

asked us to be careful about how we use

19:28

the water they hang like an eviction

19:30

notice from the environment and I wonder

19:32

how long it will take the planet to tell

19:34

us we can’t live here and the locks are

19:36

changed I wonder how long it’ll be

19:38

before my shower becomes a relic before

19:40

my sink tries to change occupations

19:42

before the knobs on my faucet become

19:45

roulette wheels before my hands rain

19:47

dance around the spout hoping a drop

19:48

will spill from its neck I wonder if the

19:51

next generation will know water the same

19:53

way I did the way it runs through the

19:56

fingers the way it wrinkles the hands

19:58

cools the skin the way it freezes flakes

20:02

and kisses the ground on the cheek I

20:04

wonder if my grandkids will ever throw a

20:07

penny in a fountain and hear it splash

20:21

how’re we doing we still good what’s my

20:24

time looking like right now how long

20:25

have I been up here good thing – teen

20:32

minutes left I’ve been up here for 15

20:33

minutes okay awesome awesome how we

20:36

doing we still good word alright so um

20:39

next phone so uh I wrote this poem back

20:43

in 2009 right maybe even a little bit

20:46

earlier than that and um so the poem

20:49

that I read earlier the love poem right

20:51

was about a girl that I was dating back

20:53

when we were dating and that ended

20:58

really badly right and I was just I was

21:01

super heartbroken and I needed a way to

21:03

kind of process all of those emotions

21:05

and I wrote this all in like one sitting

21:08

after it all happened so of poem here we

21:17

one if I could I would nail these hands

21:22

to the edges of stars I would sacrifice

21:24

this body to the sky hoping a resurrect

21:27

is someone spiteful enough to not care

21:29

this much about you to staple me to a

21:33

cross pierce my side with the broken

21:36

promise and I will bleed all the reasons

21:38

why you deserve one more chance

21:39

three loving you was the last thing I

21:44

felt really good at for you want to know

21:48

how I got these scars well I ripped

21:50

every last piece of you out of my smile

21:52

five I whispered you Stardust six I

21:54

spoke you into sunflower seven I dipped

21:57

in my hands in forever I touched you

21:59

infinity treated you as if you were the

22:01

last molecule of oxygen inside of a gas

22:03

chamber I was good to you eight you want

22:08

to know how I got these scars I

22:10

swallowed my pride then it clawed its

22:13

way out of my mouth nine I realized that

22:15

I was never really your boyfriend I was

22:18

your height man ten hope your next

22:22

boyfriend gets small pots ten yes I said

22:26

smallpox ten I hate you ten but I still

22:30

miss you ten and I still love you ten

22:32

and I still love you ten and I still

22:35

love you ten it’s hard for me to count

22:37

when I get emotional ten i heard that

22:39

over 90 I heard that open 90% of human

22:42

interaction is nonverbal so

22:53

10 if I could I would tie your arms to a

22:58

dais room and then auction you off to my

23:00

fondest memories to the random dude who

23:04

started dating my ex-girlfriend two days

23:06

after we broke up yes I saw that on

23:08

Facebook now when I realized that you

23:11

were in a relationship with the girl

23:13

that I thought I would spend the rest of

23:14

my life with I walked outside I said to

23:16

myself there’s no way Aston Kutcher is

23:18

gonna catch me off guard I waited 45

23:20

minutes and then I realized there hadn’t

23:22

been a new episode of Punk’d in almost

23:23

four years I guess I’m the only

23:26

practical joke in this entire situation

23:28

one the first time I saw you and her in

23:30

a picture I wanted to take my entire arm

23:34

shove it inside of the computer and

23:36

snatch the happiness right off of your

23:38

face – if I ever see you in the street I

23:41

might punch you in the throat 3 I

23:42

apologize in advance and I know that it

23:47

makes no sense to have this much anger

23:48

toward a man that I’ve never met face to

23:50

face my definition of love is being

23:52

robbed in an alley 8 times in Rome and

23:54

hoping there’s something about today

23:55

that makes all of this different there

23:57

was nothing logical about cutting off

23:58

the most important parts of yourself and

24:00

then putting them inside of hands that

24:01

shake that tremble and cracked like a

24:03

Haitian sidewalk for there is nothing

24:06

rational about love love stutters when

24:11

it gets nervous love strips over its own

24:14

shoelaces love is clumsy and my heart

24:17

refuses to wear a helmet 5 Cupid is

24:29

and I’m tired of him using me for target

24:31

practice six I was told that time heals

24:35

all wounds but what exactly do do on

24:38

days when it feels like the hands on

24:39

your clock have arthritis seven she

24:42

always wore her heart on her sleeve so

24:43

tell me why the hell do you look so

24:46

eight I think I’ve seen you somewhere in

24:48

her smile like I’ve heard your voice in

24:51

her laughter I bet if we dusted her

24:55

heart for fingerprints we would only

24:57

find yours nine I have this envelope

25:02

it’s full of all the butterflies that I

25:04

felt the first time she smiled in my

25:07

direction I think most of them are still

25:12

I guess these belong to you too thank

25:31

how’re we doing we still good all right

25:37

summer read probably two more out of the

25:40

book and then that’ll be my time okay

25:42

okay so I’m getting older right and

25:46

things are starting to hurt on my body

25:50

so I wrote a poem about it here we go

25:55

yesterday I injured myself and the

26:00

explanation didn’t make sense I said

26:04

well I was walking and that was the end

26:12

at this age my body is a stranger that I

26:16

keep meeting over and over again the

26:19

words I am are slowly transforming into

26:21

I used to be because every year

26:23

past-tense finds a larger house inside

26:26

the neighborhood of my everyday

26:27

vernacular I am slowly realizing that

26:31

when the skeleton is new and the bones

26:33

are vibrant they course the mind into

26:37

thinking that the days will pass but the

26:38

flesh will not youth promises us

26:42

immortality but doesn’t have the means

26:45

to uphold its end of the bargain thank

27:01

you see let me see let me see

27:05

let’s read all right so it’s last one no

27:12

actually I’ll read this one that’ll read

27:14

something after it sound good all right

27:16

so um so I’ve been you know uh kind of

27:20

like struggling with you know like I’ve

27:25

been struggling with depression you know

27:27

when I when I tell people when people

27:29

ask me like what it’s like touring and

27:31

whatnot right it’s it’s hard to explain

27:34

I’m an introvert once I don’t really I

27:37

don’t really like interact with people a

27:39

whole lot on my own time right most of

27:42

the interactions I have with people are

27:43

like during shows because like I just

27:46

feel tired after I interact with people

27:47

and I just need to take a nap you know

27:49

but what’s really odd about like

27:53

traveling and performing and doing shows

27:55

is that this it’s like I tell people

27:58

that it’s kind of like having somebody

28:00

like at your house for a few days and

28:03

then when they leave and you walk back

28:06

into your house and you’re the only one

28:07

there that’s what it feels like every

28:10

time you’re done performing because you

28:12

talk to people right and then everybody

28:14

leaves and then you’re alone again and

28:16

it’s just odd feeling if you have to

28:17

readjust to like being a person you know

28:20

and I know that’s hard to grasp but

28:23

that’s it’s kind of how it feels so I

28:25

wrote this poem a little while ago and I

28:26

want to share it when people ask how I’m

28:30

doing I want to say my depression is an

28:35

angry deity a jealous God a thirsty

28:38

shadow that rings my joy like a dishrag

28:40

and makes juice out of my smile I want

28:44

to say getting out of bed has become a

28:46

magic trick and I’m probably the worst

28:48

magician I know I want to say this

28:51

sadness is the only clean shirt I have

28:53

left and my washing machine has been

28:55

broken for months but I’d rather not

28:58

ruin someone’s day with my tragic

29:00

honesty so instead I treat my face like

29:05

I pretend it’s Halloween I carve it into

29:09

something acceptable I laugh and say I’m

29:25

all right so I’m gonna read one more and

29:28

then that’ll be my time for tonight and

29:33

afterwards I’ll be signing books so if

29:36

you would like to have your book signed

29:37

you can just stand in line and I will

29:40

sign it sound good all right here we go

29:43

last poem are we ready all right I call

29:47

it cookout um here we go somewhere

29:53

someone’s uncle or father a man wearing

29:57

sandals and khaki shorts who says back

30:00

in my day far too often is on the grill

30:04

he is watching the food like he’s afraid

30:07

it’ll change its mind about becoming a

30:09

meal and decides to run off the kids are

30:12

playing a game they made up themselves

30:14

and changing the rules every five

30:17

this smiles are so big you can fit

30:20

history inside of them and still have

30:22

room for right now and the future

30:24

the adults hate all the new music but

30:28

still want the teenagers to teach them

30:30

all the dances the cupid shuffle is

30:33

common ground and the wobble is a peace

30:36

treaty signed by both generations there

30:40

are no rallies today no blood on the

30:43

street no hashtags here but there is

30:47

barbecue potato salad and greens the

30:51

only tears you will see here is when

30:55

someone lifts the foil and all the mac

30:58

and cheese is finished thank you so much

31:02

for having me tonight thank you and I’ll

31:07

be here I’ll be here signing books and

31:10

y’all have a good night

A special thanks to Mr Rudy Francisco for inspiring all of us with his uplifting words.

This post was previously published on YouTube

Photo credit: Screenshot from video with Rudy Francisco