Reflections on race, gender, mental illness — and love, naturally!

Your God stole my God’s identity.
So next time you bend your knees,
next time you bow your head
I want you to tell your God
that my God is looking for him.
(“To the Man Standing on the Corner Holding the Sign That Said ‘God Hates Gays'”)

Once, a friend of a friend asked me
why there aren’t more black people in the X Games
and I said, “You don’t get it.”
Being black is one of the most extreme sports in America.
(“Adrenaline Rush”)

Some days I forget that my skin
is not a panic room.
(“My Honest Poem”)

###

The first poem in HELIUM, “Water,” took my breath away – and more or less set the tone for the entire volume.

I have a terrible time reviewing poetry; I can’t tell you whether a poem is “good,” technically speaking, only if I liked it. Even then I fear I’m a poor barometer, since I’m as likely to understand it as not.

But Rudy Francisco’s poetry is accessible AF. Also daring, insightful, passionate, and unfiltered. I especially adore the poems that tackle mental illness – which is no surprise, as I struggle with anxiety and depression myself, and thus find this genre incredibly relatable and applicable to my own life.

Many of these pieces appear in Parts I and II; but it’s those poems centered on social justice issues (Part III) that really stunned me speechless. “Adrenaline Rush,” “Rifle II,” “To the Man Standing on the Corner Holding the Sign That Said ‘God Hates Gays'” — these poems will stick with me long after HELIUM claims its permanent home on my bookshelves. Not that it will stay there indefinitely: this is a book I’m likely to revisit again in the future.

Though Francisco is at his best when writing about social justice issues – toxic masculinity, misogyny, religious intolerance, art as resistance, police brutality, etc. – I cared less for his love poems. Though I suppose it could just be the jaded, 39-year-old widow in me silently screaming, “Please don’t be a love poet!”

I also actively disliked “Complainers” (to paraphrase: if you’ve never had to saw your own arm off with a rusty butterknife, stfu!), which is kind of a bummer: the second-to-last poem in the book, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I rarely read physical books anymore – I’m more an ebook kind of gal – but I found the font a little on the small side, and unnecessarily so, since many of the pages are dominated by white space. Borderline hard-to-read for my nearly middle-aged eyes.
These are all fairly minor complaints, though, given the sheer genius and raw emotion embodied in HELIUM.


Contents

I
Water
Good Morning
Ouch
Page
Drive
Horizon
Instructions
My Honest Poem
Machine
Correctly
12 am
Sip
Petal
To the Girl Who Works at Starbucks…
Alternatives to “Bae”
If I Was a Love Poet
Again

II
Sinking
When People Ask How I’m Doing
Mess
Vanish
Why Did You Leave?
Scars
Museum
To the Random Dude…
Haunted
How Did You Lose Her?
Chameleon
Windows and Mirrors
Lopsided
To You
To Him
And Then After

III
Waves
Skin II
Adrenaline Rush
Accent
98
Meal
Margin
Liberty
To the Man Standing on the Corner Holding the Sign That Said “God Hates Gays”
Brother
Sister
Rifle II
Simeona
In the Voice of Hip Hop
I Bet the Trees Are Thinking
Roulette
Mercy

IV
Forgiveness
Capacity
Strength
Cookout
Welcome
Silence
Complainers
Yes

I thoroughly enjoyed "Helium" by Rudy Francisco! His poetry is concise, powerful, personal, political, witty, truthful, all in one. What a talented guy!!

I would definitely recommend this book to others and look forward to reading more from this author.

Many, many thanks to NetGalley and Button Poetry - this never would've hit my radar without you!

Absolutely fantastic and a collection that can be used in such varied and complex situations. An instant favorite.

4.5 Stars

My reflections on each part.

I

Rudy Francisco is a ray of light with hopeful, humorous words and a positive outlook. There’s a light-hearted banter here that in no way diminishes the quality or meaning of his message.

His poems still talk of new love, of a life unfinished, and of finding his way, but there is something refreshing about the way he writes.

II

As good as he is at writing about optimism, he’s even better at writing about loss. His poems Vanish, Scars, and Museum struck a cord with me. This section is bleak in the best way. Rudy’s able to look at or experience a situation and beautifully, sometimes metaphorically, emotionalize it. From the few spoken word videos of his I’ve seen, I wasn’t expecting this. But I loved it.

III

I would call this the social issues section but that seems to trivialize how inspired and real these pieces are. Topics range from racism to masculinity and more. Rudy makes his experiences relatable, his thoughts coherent, and his verses flow in this section.

IV

A few last thoughts, a quick look at family, and a wrap up of a great collection of poetry.

A nice read. But just some of the poems were really special.

I absolutely loved this collection. Some poems really let me think. Some poems really let me feel. Some poems did both. I would recommend it if you liked The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace.

I love how raw and honest this collection. Some of it was deep and an eye-opener.

I received a free advanced digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my opinion, rating, or review

One of the things I loved the most about this collection of poetry is how it is both personal and a political commentary.I frequently found myself bookmarking poems and re-reading them to fully catch all the details hidden within.

Normally, when I review book, I have a rating in mind the moment I set it down. Helium, though, was different. I had such conflicting thoughts on it, that I forced myself to sit back, and to ask myself what I had problems with it. And, when I really thought about it, my main problem was the organization. Otherwise, I found the poems to be thought provoking and meaningful, and my e-copy of the book is very heavily highlighted. I actually ended up using a stanza as my senior quote this year, which I wasn't even expecting.

So, with the organization, the book was separated into chunks, parts, and there were four of them. The sections had no defined theme, and I found some of them to vary around, or even repeat themes that were already discussed. I didn't mind the poems, oh no, it's just that I didn't get what Francisco was getting at. What was really frustrating was how there were sections that had clear themes (like the second one focused on Francisco's relationship with a woman), but then others would jump all over the place.

I found the rest of the collection enthralling. Some of the poems were really inspirational and hard-hitting and I wanted more of that. Like I said, I ended up using a stanza as my senior quote, just because I found myself relating so much to his words. There were some poems that I really didn't care for (like the ones about his relationship. But, that's me, personally), but otherwise I wanted more poems like that. Francisco kind of made me look at poetry differently, because I've only ever seen two types of poetry before this: stuff that tries to be all deep and meaningful and just turns out to be a jumble of words, or poems that

read
like
this,

one word at a time, not really making these words anything more than words. Francisco changed that though. Poems can still be meaningful but not a jumble of words. Poems don't have to be one word a line to make sense either.

Final Rating: ★★★★☆

Overall?

For a book that I randomly chose off NetGalley, I'm really impressed! While I personally had struggles with the organization, and disliked a few of the poems, I overall found myself enjoying the collection and am interested in reading more of Rudy Francisco's works!

Would I Recommend?

If you like poetry, I would totally suggest this one! Not only is it thought provoking, but it was really interesting, and I wish there had been more to enjoy.

I had not read or heard much of Rudy Francisco's poetry before, but I am a fan of many of the poets associated with Button Poetry. I really enjoyed reading his poems and being shown how everyday life can be affected by just the color of your skin. I will definitely be reading more of his works and would recommend this book to anyone.

This was such a delight to read. Rudy Francisco writes straightforward, vulnerable poetry that could best be described as ‘well-intentioned sucker punches’.
Francisco addresses his own struggles in this collection, at times self-deprecating, at others so unflinchingly honest it feels uncomfortable to read. But especially the poems tackling social issues were heart-breaking and eye-opening. It’s frightening how on-point Francisco describes issues of masculinity and sexism in our society. He does not shy away from calling out the perpetuation of toxic masculinity.
Francisco also addresses how others keep searching for the next adrenaline kick, the craziest challenge, the punch of fear mixed with excitement while he is forced to fear for his life every day because of racism.
It seems that no matter what issue he tackles, Francisco scores with raw commentary that resonates. This was such an insightful poetry collection, brutally honest and heart-wearming at the same time.

I read this lovely in one sitting and enjoyed it very much. Since the very first page, the one and only thought that came up in my mind was 'this' going to be a very good poetry' !! See, I'm absolutely right about it. :3

It told so much about diversity, including marginalized people, etc. I'm planning on reading other books by Rudy, it turns out he's one of my peots. I love his works a lot. so if you're into poetry, you must give this one a try, it's worth reading tho.

Raw and unflinchingly honest, these poems—especially those on racism and other social issues—land like sucker punches in the stomach. Read them and open your eyes if you haven’t already.

Honest and raw and so incredibly insightful. I loved it. A beautiful collection of poetry that resonates with people of all different backgrounds and conditions.


**I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

4 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this poetry collection. I loved 3 or 4 of the poems and I liked the others immensely. Poetry collections are either hit or miss for me. This was a hit for me. Rudy Fransisco really takes his life and puts it on display in such a raw way. I love it.

Well, hello Button Poetry. I see you and I feel you. I couldn’t help but feel as though I was sitting down to a meal as I read this. The book is divided into four parts; the first is to whet your appetite with poems like Good Morning and Page (which I relate to because I face blank pages every morning when I sit down to write), the second part is more like when your family starts asking your date questions. They simply want to know a bit more about your date. The third part is the main dish. This is where your folks make it clear to your date that if they are not here to stay they’d better excuse themselves from the dinner table and leave for good. I’ll say Adrenaline Rush, 98, Liberty and Brother and if you do not get it then To the Man Standing in the Corner Holding the Sign That Said “God Hates Gays” packs a punch, he starts out by pointing out the ironies of life and flaws in our opinions and closes by "I want you to tell your God that my God is looking for him."
The final part is the dessert and in total you’ve got 17, 16, 17, 8 poems from each part respectively.
I’m off to check out his performances on YouTube.

Thank you NetGalley and Button Poetry books for sharing this awesome book with me, now, I need more of the author’s works and I hear that YouTube is a good place start.

Button Poetry. Again. Blown away.

Helium by Rudy Francisco – what can I say? If you haven’t already, head over to youtube and check out his performances. You’ll appreciate his soft tone and style so much more when you read this if you’re familiar with his spoken delivery. I’ve been a fan of Francisco for a little while now and he continues to blow me away with each piece in this book. Some of those included in this release are available on Button Poetry’s social media. I highly recommend listening to them as you read along. His poem, “Complainers” has been making its way around Facebook in recent days, so you may already have some idea of his work.

It would be impossible to pick a favorite. I read this in one sitting and it’s one I’ll return to time and time again. I’ll be pre-ordering a physical copy as well. Rudy manages to gracefully touch on many topics – race, gender roles, depression, masculinity, love, life, and the human condition as a whole. It’s a beautiful collection. He manages to take us down roads we didn’t know we were walking, finding hidden trails and paths we may not have seen without his guidance. It’s impossible to pick the best parts, as their all amazing, so I’m only including some random bits here. Some of my favorite sections are entirely too long for a review, so please, do yourself a favor and order this book today.

From “To Him”:
I’m just sorry that
she had to be your
fortune cookie.

Broken so you could
learn a lesson

You already
Should’ve known.


From “And Then After”:
I heard there’s a
woman in Palestine
who makes flower pots
out of used teargas grenades
From this I learned
the explosion
is not how the story
has to end.

Those are just snippets. There are so many others that are as great or better. Mercy, Ouch, To the Girl Who Works at Starbucks, Yes, and so many more. Five stars all around.


I received a free advanced digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my opinion, rating, or review.

This debut collection of poetry from Rudy Francisco impresses with insightful commentary and vivid imagery that sheds light on race, gender and the human condition itself!