The Upstart Scarecrow

Spoken word piece, backed by Ben Wright on stand up bass, in which we meet the derelict prophet and visionary, Willy Shakes.

Posted in Audio, photography, Poetry, Video | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Jack Kerouac

Cinematic poetic tribute to Jack Kerouac, honoring his centennial birthday (March 12, 2022).

Posted in Audio, Books, Cinema, photography, Poetry, Press, Prose | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Last Days of Jack Kerouac, a film-poem

March 12, 2022 marks the centennial birthday of Jack Kerouac. As one of my first literary crushes, and a seminal influence, I felt compelled to honor Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac and his singular contribution to the land of literature, with this film-poem, recorded by my daughter, Sierra Lindsey Biscello.

This poem appears in my collection Moonglow on Mercy Street. A new edition of this book will be released in June by Indie Blu (e) Publishing.

Interesting trivia tidbit: Kerouac’s birthday (March 12) is Charlie Parker’s death date, while Kerouac’s death date (Oct 21) is Dizzy Gillespie’s birthday. Synchronicity be the bop to the beat of cosmic grace.

Posted in Audio, Cinema, photography, Poetry, Press, Prose | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

After Party

She, Lazarus,

back from the dead,

with a musical vengeance—

A beat, Christ, please,

she asks of her martyred D.J.,

half-light, half-man,

and out climbs her voice, grinding

through rubble, a dark velvet toy

wound up for centuries, released,

on behalf of every last blue girl, unannounced,

notes from underground

unfurling a cortege of white ribbons,

grace lost

now found

among trespasses.

(Poem from the collection, Arclight.)
Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

God’s Word Against Mine

And on the eighth day

she was diagnosed an Artist,

and saw that it was good

and fierce and necessary,

and went forth creating

like a madwoman,

rattling gravity shackles

to the din of furor

and crumbling towers

within.

(Poem from the collection, Arclight.)

Posted in Artwork, Books, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Immigration Laws

We are
immigrants in our own skin,
flash-fire refugees
who get by with falsified papers,
fake IDs, and forged signatures.
If caught and found guilty
of a trespass
or transgression,
we pardon ourselves
in our native tongues,
language a placeholder
for the names
we were forced
to annul.

(Poem from the collection, Arclight.)

Posted in Artwork, Books, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Claim for the Meek

I do not want to see

the face of God.

I want to see her mask,

where

and for whom it cracked,

the causal history of lines and fissures;

want to trace,

with blind mute innocence,

the light quartered and drawn

in Braille, its grooves holding,

without strain or regret,

Mercy’s hidden inheritance.  

 
Poem from the collection, Arclight, available here.
Posted in Artwork, Books, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This Dreamed Life

Remember me
to the
ease of light,
its pause and passage,
we are not long
for this earth,
which swallows us,
and our lovetagged bones,
as a matter of natural course
and radical recomposition,
all the gifts,
and hopes unwound
like a carnival of kites
in a ghostfaced sky,
must be returned,
it is part of the deal,
the equalizer that rivets
the wonder wheel
to its own cyclical surge
and motion,
and I, bearing the privilege
of passenger,
for what amounts to a split second
between God’s inhale
and exhale,
cannot help but air
my epitaph,
with the utmost gratitude
and reverence,
for every dream that held me
bated and green,
for every sweetness and sorrow
that carved my interior
into a well-lighted cathedral,
where basking became my truest art
and devotion.

Photo by Josef Sudek

Posted in Artwork, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seating Arrangement

The girl in the chair
is no longer the girl in the chair,
she is neither here nor there,
she is always and forget-me-not,
soul-spray and glacial uproar
causing a siege,
she is the spidery patterns
of her exploded heart,
woven in to the ritual symmetry
of a fibrous arc,
where a girl once sat,
once upon a time, forever.

Installation by Izumi Yokoyama
Posted in Artwork, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Please Sit Down

No sitters to tend,
solvent to its own winter,
if these floors could talk.

Installation by Izumi Yokoyama

Posted in Artwork, photography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment