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.

Bolano and Me

Posted on March 26, 2025 by John Biscello

Last night I dreamed of Roberto Bolaño. Or he of me. We were sitting at a dimly lit café, a subterranean plot of a café, and Bolaño was drinking chamomile tea. In the latter stages of his life chamomile tea … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose | Tagged boxing, cafe, chamomile tea, chile, creative-writing, dream, fiction, Literary, literature, poem, Poetry, roberto bolano, writer's life, writing | Leave a comment

Seal

Posted on March 20, 2025 by John Biscello

Visionaries elope with themselves. Time-lapses of a shotgun wedding in a placeless tent ministered by the migrating wind and its sideshow cabal of voices— In the company of echoes, you kneel, and grow favorably intimate with unheard of distances closing … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged kiss, poem, Poetry, sacrament, verses from the abstract, vision, voices, wedding | Leave a comment

Outlaw Country

Posted on March 19, 2025 by John Biscello

“Outlaw Country,” an excerpt from my novel, None So Distant, published in Spare Parts Literary Magazine as part of their From the Desk series: Reports of fringy lore on lost highways. Point-counterpoint in a twangy battle of wills. Stay tuned. … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose, Publications | Tagged excerpt, lost highway, music, novel, outlaw country, Prose, Publication, words | Leave a comment

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Posted on March 18, 2025 by John Biscello

And on the eighth day, unseasonably warm, the hounds basking in hell, modeling balmy, crotch-rot bikinis in Gilead, called out— Please, God, let our leader mirror starkly our deepest fears and shadows, let him be as I, for I am … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged bible, bloodlust, gilead, grand guignol, lyrics to go, poem, Poetry, zombies | Leave a comment

Metamorphosis Variations

Posted on February 24, 2025 by John Biscello

My fiction piece, “Metamorphosis Variations” (inspired by the first sentence of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”) now appearing in 3:AM magazine. Excerpt below: As I awoke one morning, from a night of discarded syringes and cough syrup, I found myself transformed … Continue reading →

Posted in Artwork, Books, photography, Poetry, Press, Prose, Publications | Tagged bug's life, experimental, fiction, franz kafka, metamorphosis, short story, story, surreal, transformation | Leave a comment

Conjugal

Posted on February 19, 2025 by John Biscello

Hoarfrost mingling with spring dew– Hunger, sated to bloom.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged dew, frost, hunger, life, lust, poem, seasons, sensual, spring, Winter | Leave a comment

Alone-In

Posted on February 19, 2025 by John Biscello

She grew infintely wet, a throbbing void and pulsing slate of Braille and intent– subletting, by touch, urgent spells of hunger to a silent fast.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged hunger, longing, poem, sensual, silence, touch, void | Leave a comment

Edie, Interrupted

Posted on February 10, 2025 by John Biscello

Splitting images, resurrection on a loop– Stripping for heaven.

Posted in Artwork, Books, Cinema, photography, Poetry | Tagged actress, Edie Sedgwick, film, It Girl, model, Poetry, The Factory, warhol days | Leave a comment

The Menken

Posted on February 10, 2025 by John Biscello

She, the Menken, Byronic in flame and force, mastered the art of social media long before technology caught up, selling the illusion of a man/ woman bound naked to a horse; she, the salacious Mazeppa, incited a modern storm, long … Continue reading →

Posted in Artwork, Books, photography, Poetry, Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged 19th century, actress, adah isaacs menken, Byron, poet, Poetry, woman on fire | Leave a comment

Dietrich in Heaven

Posted on February 5, 2025 by John Biscello

My spoken word piece, “Dietrich in Heaven” is now live in the Open Mic section of New Pop Lit, a publication whose mission is to fuse pop writing with the literary, creating a new hybrid.

Posted in Audio, Cinema, photography, Poetry, Prose, Publications, Video | Tagged Heaven, longing, Marlene Dietrich, new pop lit, old hollywood, Poetry, pop culture, romance, Spoken Word | Leave a comment