Chicana Poet
Born & Raised
in Chicago

Poetry Rooted

in Community,

Radical Love,

& Liberation

Photo: E.L.A. Photography

About the Poet

I started writing poetry in 2019 to cope with cancer survival. Cancer treatment was tough, but the aftermath felt equally as difficult. It was impossible to go back to my pre-cancer life, but I didn’t know how to step into my new normal. Poetry helped me open a portal to healing and understanding the circumstances of my survival—a way to externalize the pain onto the page instead of letting it fester internally. After writing for a year in a stream-of-consciousness style, I became curious about the craft side of poetry. I began attending workshops and immersing myself in poetry books.

Beyond my exploration of living with cancer, the inspiration for my poetry lies in my work in healthcare, the labor movement, motherhood, and growing up in Chicago. I have worked in the healthcare field for the past 25 years, since I was 19 years old, connecting and advocating for access to affordable healthcare and better working conditions for members of the Chicago and numerous Illinois communities. I’ve been a union member for 25 years and served as a union steward for 12 years. My work in the labor movement provided an education in worker liberation and other forms of movement work. I call myself a working-class poet because I don’t believe in hierarchical spaces, including writing spaces. Being a 9-5 worker has always grounded and informed my poetry. I’m not a poet without my communities and my belief in a radical love that is rooted in justice and equity for everyone.

Author Bio

Rocío Franco is a self-identified Chicana warrior poet from Chicago. She holds fellowships from Rad(ical) DreamYard Consortium, The Watering Hole, Roots Wounds Words, and Periplus Collective under the mentorship of Kemi Alabi. The Frost Place Conference on Poetry, Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop, Voices of Our Nations (VONA), Tin House’s Summer Workshop, and StoryStudio Chicago have supported her work. She is a two-time Best of the Net nominee, a four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and a 2025 finalist for the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards. They have taught her poetry to high school students in New York. Her poems have appeared in Outpatient Press, the Chicago Reader’s Poetry Corner curated by José Olivarez and the Poetry Foundation, the Latinx Anthology: What They Leave Behind, La Raîz Magazine, Snapdragon Journal, Newcity Magazine, AGNI, december magazine, Disco Kitchen Literary Mag, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Mom Egg Review, and others. She works full-time at a union health fund, connecting the community to public health insurance options. Because of her lifelong work in healthcare, she strongly believes in universal healthcare. She loves exploring the city with her family on the weekends, practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and approaching the world with a social justice lens. Her chapbook, Where the Monarchs Never Die, won the 2025 Arcana Poetry Press Chapbook Contest and is forthcoming. You can connect with her work on Instagram @chio_la_chingona.