Waiting for the Punchline

The mind,

locked in Time’s vice-grip,

operating as a splicer

and instrument of quartering

and dissection,

as if there really were

isolated strips

amounting to calendar-flipped years—

1923, 1932, 1974, 1980, 1999—

as if Time were somehow real

and not just the shadows of a convenient disguise

calculated to cover up the numberless

and unbroken continuum of NOW,

and the truth is, we both perish and persist

as manic glimmers within every moment,

same as we cryogenize the specious history

of bones slotted for future sowing.

About John Biscello

Originally from Brooklyn, NY, novelist, poet, performer, playwright and filmmaker, John Biscello, has lived in the high-desert grunge-wonderland of Taos, New Mexico since 2001. He is the author of six novels, Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale, Raking the Dust, Nocturne Variations, No Man’s Brooklyn, The Last Furies, and No One Dreams in Color; 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 plays have been staged and performed both nationally and internationally.

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