Dreams
are like speakeasies
for the soul.
A secret password
so you can enter,
unchecked moral boundaries
allowing you to trespass
and indulge freely
in the vagrant and illicit,
after hours
pressing
of bootleg vinyl
that places scorched scarabs
in the cavities of your ears,
years lived through
in minutes
as time becomes
the plaything of an organ grinder’s
fickle monkey,
and of course, groping,
lots and lots of groping in the dark—
Yes,
there is much to be said
for dreams as speakeasies
in which the soul comes to know itself,
outside of daylight’s mangled directives
and mass of hanged judgments.
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.
