{"id":5173,"date":"2025-08-05T20:07:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T20:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=5173"},"modified":"2026-03-04T19:08:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:08:40","slug":"two-poems-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/two-poems-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Fran Noel<\/em><\/h4>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

We Pronto<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Skidmarks plastered on the side of the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pure American steel, feeding local Americans.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s local.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s medical.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s the power of just ingredients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you live in Midvale<\/span><\/p>\n

Or eastern Jordan,<\/span><\/p>\n

Longevity is a contemporary term.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wheels kick up droplets<\/span><\/p>\n

The engine revs a symphony.<\/span><\/p>\n

Principally, it’s not a choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

When lines and valleys impress upon your face,<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s easier to use a person than to see one.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We’re living in the 22nd century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ha det bra, self-storage, lakeview and best friends,<\/span><\/p>\n

Steel placed on the terrace<\/span><\/p>\n

Mixed between hash and the bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s easy when you’re used to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s hard to hear at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you see the red, white, and blue shuttle cars?<\/span><\/p>\n

Everywhere’s Vegas, if you’re dedicated enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can instruments weep?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Memory of Benjamin Britten<\/span><\/p>\n

And the wall that shattered glass over your shoulder<\/span><\/p>\n

Where the wine covered your head in blood.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s antique.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s vintage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Raised up on the cross,<\/span><\/p>\n

Memory loves to go hunting in the dark.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You coup my eyes like a yawn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Favor lies salt trickling down your tongue.<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw god stamp out snow under my boots,<\/span><\/p>\n

Couture covered smoke in your altar.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Take the gun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peal-white smooth marble teeth click into my arms,<\/span><\/p>\n

Adding a new number for each exit,<\/span><\/p>\n

Vertigo slumped against the doorway.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sun belt’s antelopes and honeycombs are tasty, aren’t they?<\/span><\/p>\n

For almost two hundred and fifty years,<\/span><\/p>\n

Thousands of weeds have bridged over<\/span><\/p>\n

Terra firma, wholesale goods, leaves by the trunk in the spring of ’06.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The truth is,<\/span><\/p>\n

When you misspelled parish for pariah,<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew it was on purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me help you remember<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You tried to erase my name.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll find it sooner than later,<\/span><\/p>\n

But we write the same way, over and over,<\/span><\/p>\n

Crossing out the same words we continue to write.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pull the trigger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amen breaks, saturated, crashing downwards:<\/span><\/p>\n

You will forfeit all desire to be free.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smoke billows out of the highway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

HURRICANE BEAT DOWN HILLS OF APPALACHIA<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

title reads: rivers roll down rumbling surging the crickets<\/span><\/p>\n

dyed by piles of coal turning rivers black<\/span><\/p>\n

once-bustling streets filled with empty warehouses<\/span><\/p>\n

glass windows shriek telephone poles timber.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A boy\u2019s body two hundred miles away was found;<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw it on the news.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t know me from Adam,<\/span><\/p>\n

and asked me to hold him in his arms,\u201d the old man choked out.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the girl called nine-one-one and simply said \u201che isn\u2019t breathing\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

in a confused, almost awed voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They uploaded the audio file of it;<\/span><\/p>\n

Millions of people saw it on their phones.<\/span><\/p>\n

The future is moving too quickly now<\/span><\/p>\n

Dust is snowing onto steel bridges again<\/span><\/p>\n

over the valleys, into the damp earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Fran Noel<\/b> graduated in 2025 with a major in computer science and a minor in creative writing. They enjoy reading, writing, and producing music.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fran Noel   We Pronto   Skidmarks plastered on the side of the road. Pure American steel, feeding local Americans. It’s local. It’s medical.   It’s the power of just … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2513,"featured_media":0,"parent":5102,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5173","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Poems - Writers House Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/two-poems-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Poems - Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fran Noel   We Pronto   Skidmarks plastered on the side of the road. Pure American steel, feeding local Americans. It’s local. 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