Author Archives: John Biscello

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.

Sacrament

Posted on April 10, 2018 by John Biscello

The tenderest shoots, she offered as nuptials– Blood, green to the touch.

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged blood, haiku, John Biscello, poem, Poetry, ritual, sacrament, shoots, spirit, tender, water | Leave a comment

instagrammatika

Posted on April 9, 2018 by John Biscello

it’s a new world a small world after all lowercase no-scroll instapoems & screenshot epistles taking you over the moon and on the road and back again in one fell lyrical swoop just in time for another poem about sublime … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged grammar, instagram, instapoems, instapoets, John Biscello, Literary, lowercase, lyrics, modern, Poetry, trend, verses | Leave a comment

Anne Sexton

Posted on April 9, 2018 by John Biscello

It begins with a stopwatch, and a glass of water. The stopwatch belonged to her father, or to her father’s father. The glass of water is a joke. Imagine trying to remedy all that desert within, all that scabbing red … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged anne sexton, confessional, daughter, dreams, fairy tale, father, John Biscello, Literary, poet, Poetry, portrait, sketch, suicide, woman, writer's life | 4 Comments

John Fante

Posted on April 8, 2018 by John Biscello

Inferiority might have been your first memory. Though you were born on American soil, Denver, CO, April 8th, 1909, the chinked chains of immigration had you by the throat and bowels, pinched your nerves as you butted your head against … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged april 8th, arturo bandini, ask the dust, Italian-American, John Biscello, john fante, literature, los angeles, novel, novelist, poem, portrait, prose poem, tribute, writer | Leave a comment

Joan of Arc

Posted on April 6, 2018 by John Biscello

Enlightened, perhaps. God-engorged hormones, maybe. Regardless of why, Joan, you were the rebel prototype long before James Dean zipped up a red jacket, or Marlon Brando mumbled and curled his upperlip into a totem, before Louise Brooks and Josephine Baker … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged france, girl, God, Heaven, holy virgin, icon, jean seberg, joan of arc, John Biscello, martyr, mystic, Poetry, Prose, rebel, saint joan, spirit | 3 Comments

Denis Johnson’s Sea Maiden

Posted on April 5, 2018 by John Biscello

Review of Denis Johnson’s The Largesse of the Sea Maiden appearing in Riot Material. “Picture the sibilant music of blood-red sand shifting from one bulbous half of the hourglass to the other. Or black-and-white film footage, bearing a scarred geography … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Press, Prose, Publications, Uncategorized | Tagged addiction, Denis Johnson, jazzy, John Biscello, literature, modern mystic, novel, Prose, Review, riot material, stories, storyteller, swan song, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden | Leave a comment

Sylvia Plath

Posted on April 4, 2018 by John Biscello

To be a mother, and to double as a dark sorceress, a cleaver of dried bones, could not have been easy. Especially in the 1950s. They burned witches then, as well as reds and blacks and faggots, and other things … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged 1950s, bones, craft, John Biscello, passion, poem, Poetry, Prose, prose poem, sorceress, strip tease, Sylvia Plath, vaudeville | 3 Comments

Growing Young

Posted on April 2, 2018 by John Biscello

I want to grow young with you, she said. It made perfect sense. People had it all wrong. You don’t grow old, your body, this borrowed vessel, it withers and ages and decays, your body grows old, your brain grows … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged cosmos, dreams, exisential, God, John Biscello, life, mystery, old age, out of womb blues, poem, Prose, soul, Source, spirit, youth | 8 Comments

Product Placement

Posted on April 2, 2018 by John Biscello

NovelTease Literary Panties, Designed for the Well-Read Woman, Who Desires the Company of Her Favorite Writer, Between Her Legs, Snugly.

Posted in Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged erotic, Erotica, John Biscello, lingerie, Literary, men, merchandise, panties, Poetry, product, sex, women, writier's life | 2 Comments

What Fools May Come

Posted on April 1, 2018 by John Biscello

(Excerpt from Raking the Dust) I found a wooden table tucked away in a corner of the room which was directly opposite the Biographies section. I quickly learned that the table had a gimp leg and wobbled when I wrote. … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged chaplin, John Biscello, knut hamsun, library, novel, Raking the Dust, Taos, toshio mori, William saroyan, writer's life | Leave a comment