Because the Night

Posted on March 27, 2025 by John Biscello

In lyrical, abetted praise

of Patti Smith,

white witch torchbearer

of punk mettle

and lightning bones—

She, wildly grown

and gutter-starred,

remains in love and swelling thrall

to the Romantic timbre

and clash of Rimbaud’s

unrelenting wake,

or Plath’s penning of dateless verses—

In this respect,

vision, and visionaries,

never grow old or fade,

bur rather stand proof-tested

against Time’s scalpel and ruins,

exacting the plated wisdom of Novalis—

all philosophy is homesickness,

and so it goes, generationally engraved,

the song and the singer

forever mating to heed the marvels

of voice to calling.

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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This entry was posted in photography, Poetry, Prose and tagged music, patti smith, photo, poem, Poetry, praise, rimbaud, robert mappelthorpe, rock and roll, Stars, Sylvia Plath, thank you, vision. Bookmark the permalink.