Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky Review

By Nic Daniels

Hello, audacious readers! I hope you enjoyed Black History Month and are ready to leap into spring! In January, we explored the highs and lows of family legacies with The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova. For February, we’re explore form and memories with Rudy Francisco in his poetry volume, Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky.

In his third poetry volume, Rudy Francisco goes through the process of self-discovery through eight different forms of poetry. We see a few familiar ones with free verse, page-to-stage, and love poems. In these sections, Francisco tackles familiar topics of longing, mental health, and blackness. For example, in the free verse poem “I think I’m ready to side with Tommy” he addresses colorism and his attraction to Tichina Arnold’s character, Pam, in the Martin TV series. There’s also the love poem “Maybe you left the bookstore right before I got there” that’s reminiscent of “If I Was a Love Poet” from his first volume, Helium.

However, these sections come at the end of the book. In the beginning, he experiements with forms of poetry that he discovered through poets that inspire him, including the ode (an traditional form that strives to highlight what makes the ordinary extraordinary), the obit (a poem in the form of an obituary), and golden shovel (a poem in which the final word of each line is a word in a selected quote). Through these unfamiliar forms, Rudy Francisco explores painful memories, tough realizations, and triumphs that has helped shape him into the man he is today.

I’m sure at this point it’s no secret that I am a fan of Rudy Francisco and have been for years. However, after my initial excitement of the book annoucement, I got nervous because my worst fear with any artist (writer, musician, etc.) is that their work becomes redundant. This volume reassured me that this would not be the case with him.

The direction of this volume was a pleasant surprise because by exploring different styles of poetry, Francisco was not only stepping out of his comfort zone but allowing us to witness his grownth firsthand. It felt like I could feel the moments of him asking himself “okay, how am I going to do this?” and then watching him configure his way through the process. I also like that there are more family-oriented poems this time around. While he’s never been shy about talking about his family, it seems like he’s digging deeper this time around with more poems that explore fatherhood (“Rudy Francisco”) and his parents’ relationship (“The Photo”).

Overall, this volume makes me reflect more on my own memories that I want to keep and the ones that have made me who I am. Now, I have a new question for them: If they were a poem, what kind would they be?

I hope you enjoyed Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky. I'll be sharing all my thoughts on the upcoming IG live with founder, Jessica Wise. Feel free to comment your thoughts below and, until next time, don’t forget to read audaciously!