Promissory

At the commonest altar,
a stone is laid.
A voice asks you
to turn over the stone
and find your name.
You do as you are told,
and then inform the voice
that there is no name to be found,
anywhere.
Good,
the voice brightens,
and out of the blue
appears a single white feather.
Now that you know who you are not,
the voice says,
replace this stone
with that feather.
Its lightness,
coupled with silence,
invites you to write something new,
but do it in the air, where history cannot be traced
or sealed,
and the burdens of false claims
become as unsigned wind.
The voice disappears.
You are left alone
at the commonest altar,
with the presence of a single feather
anointing the largesse
of a promised unknown.
Unknown's avatar

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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