Winner of the Poetry Society of America's 2004 Wi Anthony Butts of Little Low Heaven
Francis humanizes the plight of all who follow orders, demystifies the code of ethics of those who command both secular and spiritual armies, and balances the inequities of race as well as gender: all within the context of personal narratives played out on the larger canvas of American identity. Blue-Tail Fly is an enchanting effort, one that pro-vides a much-needed national framework for a greater understanding of reconciliation."
Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, and Author of the Maverick Room - Thomas Sayers Ellis
The great thing about Blue-Tail Fly is that it does not contain any filler; it is essential reading and an essential series of poems. In lines that respect the freedom and limitations of prosody, these poems at-tempt their own truth and invention, giving themselves away to the reading experience the way contemporary art should, as cultural power objects. This book is governed by the imagination's nation of historical control; it is an honest repair guide for everyone's American home."
Ted Pearson of Evidence: 1975-1989
This remarkable debut gives voice to the lives and the losses endured in the wake of U.S. imperialism, lives and losses that resonate to this day. And these eloquent, clear-eyed, compassionate poems inspire us, like the blue-tail fly, to continue our efforts to unseat the masters of war."