Author Archives: John Biscello

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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.

Proof

Posted on July 9, 2017 by John Biscello

With the grave mortal nearness that only distance can bring, we enter the bruised, secret heart of our childhood, a stalker’s negative proof, slow-burned to exposure and fade.

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Torch

Posted on July 9, 2017 by John Biscello

How a writer, cave-timing dark and solitude, annoints an ember by crafting the small hours into a flagrant torch.

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Six

Posted on July 9, 2017 by John Biscello

   I was six when I found out I’d never become a super hero.    We were in the kitchen. Me, my mother and father. My father’s hand was around my mother’s throat. He had a wild, bloodshot, not-there look … Continue reading →

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Scripture

Posted on July 9, 2017 by John Biscello

To be swallowed, wordless, as the worst you always feared turns lighted proof into lasting scripture.

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Flint

Posted on July 7, 2017 by John Biscello

   I also saw Anya on that trip, though our meeting was unplanned. I was on the subway platform waiting for the train when I spotted a thin girl in torn jeans and a bright green tank-top walking in my … Continue reading →

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Second-Hand

Posted on July 7, 2017 by John Biscello

We, as time-worn saboteurs, engage the history of scabs and locks, resetting old wounds to the hands of a busted clock.

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Wish You Were Here

Posted on July 6, 2017 by John Biscello

Send us postcards from your loneliest places, your fault-lines and secret rivets, send us words and we promise not to burn them, we promise that something of the ineffable will stick, as if a lasting thorn in God’s bruised paw.

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The Killers at Red’s

Posted on July 6, 2017 by John Biscello

Excerpt from Nocturne Variations appearing in Riot Material. Joe pushed open the door and a bell sang. Max followed Joe into Red’s. The men’s dark hats and trenchcoats were beaded in snow. Joe took off his hat and waved it … Continue reading →

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Review of The Girl

Posted on July 6, 2017 by John Biscello

Review of Meridel Le Sueur’s The Girl, appearing in Riot Material. “The Girl is set in St. Paul, Minnesota, during the Depression, with much of its action centered in a speakeasy known as The German Village. This is where the protagonist, a … Continue reading →

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Pledge

Posted on July 6, 2017 by John Biscello

It is like stalking thin, haunted air, and forever coming up empty, she, the dark lady, a shallow fret, the one who will surely bring you to grief. This you knew, and craved, as soon as you laid eyes on … Continue reading →

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