Tag Archives: literature

Word-Pray

Posted on June 5, 2020 by John Biscello

Please understand that words matter. This, in no way is meant to belittle, diminish or dismiss the power of action, but rather, to add “words” to the conversation as a sort of auxiliary spiritual sibling, or bolts in a timeless … Continue reading →

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Jean Rhys

Posted on April 22, 2018 by John Biscello

You held the islands in your eyes, where it rained and rained and then the sun warmed wet to a wafting hiss. This Jean, you, the feline slink, filigreed shock, and sinewy comb of whitelaced waves ruffling upon puttied blobs … Continue reading →

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Anais Nin

Posted on April 19, 2018 by John Biscello

Invention was your solitude, your twin, wasn’t it, Miss Nin? The way you spread secret pages like silk violet capes, like fringed shawls, over an air of mystery, and err of desire. You enabled symmetry, to confess. Why couldn’t a … Continue reading →

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Henry Miller

Posted on April 18, 2018 by John Biscello

Some men rattle their chains and wonder, some sing them. Then there are others who spraypaint their chains rainbow siege and dance a jig like a peacock on fire, and when someone asks Isn’t it hard to dance around with … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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Paper Trail

Posted on February 26, 2018 by John Biscello

Completed draft of my new novel, No Man’s Brooklyn. A return to childhood, to the source of ghosts, to Brooklyn roots.

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Raking Reviews

Posted on February 21, 2018 by John Biscello

Dear Blogging-Community-at-Large: My second novel, Raking the Dust, will be re-released by Unsolicited Press on April 3rd (as part of a build-up toward the release of my new novel, Nocturne Variations, in November). I am offering a limited number of … Continue reading →

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Scripture

Posted on February 19, 2018 by John Biscello

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

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Book of Disquiet

Posted on February 1, 2018 by John Biscello

Review of Fernando Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet, appearing in Riot Material. “Abandon hope all ye who enter here, might be the most fitting sign and qualifier preceding entry into the world of Disquiet. And yet, paradoxically, there is beauty, staggering, asphyxiating … Continue reading →

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