Unwrit

I fall in love

too easy

with phantoms and projections,

spectral imprints

that pool twilight

in their arms

for a living.

Where people are not,

I find myself digging

and searching,

clawing profusely

at beautiful stones

until my nails are broken

and my fingerprints bloodied

into a glyphic makeover.

I court absences,

their staggering volume

a powerful gulfstream

by which every paper boat

and child’s dream

I cast

cuts through channels

and tributaries

en route to the sea’s

brute promise of amnesia.

I forget where I am,

who I was,

and that, at heart,

I am simply

the long-lost lover

of ancient print

in a storybook

whose tales are

as old

as they are

unwritten.

About John Biscello

Originally from Brooklyn, NY, writer, poet, performer, and playwright, John Biscello, has lived in the high-desert grunge-wonderland of Taos, New Mexico since 2001. He is the author of four novels, Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale, Raking the Dust, Nocturne Variations, and No Man’s Brooklyn; a collection of stories, Freeze Tag, two poetry collections, Arclight and Moonglow on Mercy Street; and a fable, The Jackdaw and the Doll, illustrated by Izumi Yokoyama. He also adapted classic fables, which were paired with the vintage illustrations of artist, Paul Bransom, for the collection: Once Upon a Time, Classic Fables Reimagined. His produced, full-length plays include: LOBSTERS ON ICE, ADAGIO FOR STRAYS, THE BEST MEDICINE, ZEITGEIST, U.S.A., and WEREWOLVES DON’T WALTZ.

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