Published: 2020
Author: Rudy Francisco
Genres: Poetry, Contemporary, Spoken Word
Audience: Grades 10–12, Adult
Number of Stars: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Goodreads Link: I’ll Fly Away
Content Warnings: Racism, racial violence, police brutality, mental health struggles (depression), grief, domestic conflict, and profanity.
Publisher’s Summary
In this stunningly intimate follow-up to his best-selling collection Helium, Rudy Francisco creates a series of poems that savor the day-to-day. Treating the mundane as a form of worship, Francisco explores the limits of language by inventing his own words for emotions that standard English cannot name—such as “Felenter” (a noun for someone who finds joy in things others find mundane).
Through fascinating metaphors and a deeply personal lens, I’ll Fly Away acts as both an act of remembrance and a celebration of the reader’s own existence. These poems serve as a reminder that growth often starts with the smallest seeds planted in the harshest conditions.
Full Review
If you’ve ever felt like poetry “wasn’t for you,” it’s likely because you haven’t experienced Rudy Francisco. A powerhouse in the spoken word community, Francisco writes with a contemporary urgency that makes his work immediately accessible to young people. Unlike the “outdated” poets students often encounter in textbooks, Francisco is a young Black poet addressing the very real world they live in: racism, police brutality, gun violence, depression, and the complexities of love.
His structure is brilliant and varied. In this collection, he invents “definitions” for non-existent words and then writes poems based on those concepts. He also utilizes blackout poetry—taking existing song lyrics and redacting them to create entirely new meanings. These formats provide excellent models for students to experiment with their own writing.
While individual poems can be used with younger grades, the collection as a whole is best suited for mature high schoolers (10th-12th) and adults. The topics are challenging and potentially triggering, but they reflect the lived experiences of many students. This isn’t just a book of poems; it’s an act of believing that every reader is a celebration waiting for the lights to come up.
📊 Contemporary Poetry & Representation
The “Renaissance” of young, diverse poets has fundamentally changed how students engage with the genre.
- Diversity in Publishing: In the last decade, the percentage of children’s and YA books featuring Black protagonists or authors has increased significantly, moving from roughly 10% in 2014 to over 30% by 2022.
- Spoken Word Engagement: According to literacy studies, students who engage with spoken word poetry show higher levels of reading comprehension and emotional intelligence because they are forced to analyze tone, pace, and subtext.
- Mental Health in YA: Collections like I’ll Fly Away reflect a trend where 60-70% of modern YA “verse” books now address themes of anxiety, depression, or healing, providing much-needed mirrors for teen readers.
🎒 Classroom & Curricular Connections
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ELA (Performance & Oral Tradition): Watch videos of Rudy Francisco performing “My Honest Poem.”
Activity Idea: Have students perform a “Live Read” of one of Francisco’s poems from this book. How does their interpretation change based on where they pause or which words they emphasize?
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Creative Writing (The Definition Project): > Activity Idea: Ask students to invent a word for a feeling they have that doesn’t have a name yet. Have them write a “dictionary entry” and then a short poem (less than 10 lines) illustrating that word.
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Social Studies (Current Events & Advocacy): Use poems about police brutality or racism to start discussions on social justice.
Activity Idea: Compare a poem by Rudy Francisco to a historical poem about racial justice (like those by Langston Hughes). How has the “language of protest” changed over 100 years?
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Health & SEL (Mental Health & Coping): > Activity Idea: Analyze the “savoring the day-to-day” theme. Have students create a “Savoring List”—five mundane things that bring them a small amount of joy, inspired by the word Felenter.
