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.

Flooded River It Sweeps

by Jacques J. Rancourt

the whole town
swelling and swallowing

the streets and houses
up to the steps


of our front porch
The Bible tells us


that God spared Noah
the flood because he was


and I quote
a good man


but it doesn’t tell us
about the other townspeople


the ones who all
would drown how they


I am sure of it
stormed up to his ark


beat their fists against
its sides and cried


Wasn’t I too? Wasn’t I too?


Read on . . .

“Waterline,” a poem by Ocean Vuong