Jacques J. Rancourt is the author of the poetry collections Brocken Spectre (Alice James Books, 2021) and Novena. He received his MFA in poetry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was a finalist in Narrative’s Fourth Annual Poetry Contest. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, Rancourt lives in San Fransisco.

Hello, My Name Is Also Jacques Rancourt

by Jacques J. Rancourt
with a translated line from “Fils d’Horizon,” by Jacques Rancourt


So you already know we’ve placed ourselves in the nape of the rake. Copper harp. Sickle-
                                                           tongued. You know
each season we’ve braided strands of wheat into rope

to tie about our necks. My father, a Jacques Rancourt too,
split back the wormed casing
                                                       of a rotted tree to remind me
we open into fields. Dry haven. Corned breath. My father
People on couch
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