Tag Archives: Prose

The Passion of Joan of Arc

Posted on April 17, 2018 by John Biscello

(Review of The Passion of Joan of Arc, the silent film classic, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary.) Celebrating its 90th anniversary, Dreyer’s film remains starkly modern in its composition and complexion, fixed in an otherworldly and hallucinogenic present. Jean Cocteau … Continue reading →

Posted in Press, Prose, Publications, Uncategorized | Tagged carl theodore dreyer, Cinema, essay, joan of arc, John Biscello, mystic, Prose, renee maria falconetti, Review, riot material, saint, silent film, the passion of joan of arc, visionary | 2 Comments

Granny and Chaplin

Posted on April 15, 2018 by John Biscello

(Today is my grandmother May’s birthday, May-Day in my heart. Tomorrow is Sir Charlie Chaplin’s birthday, Fool’s-Play-Day in my heart. And so, in honor of these two wonderful and loving spirits) In times of hardship and heartache my grandmother … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged charlie chaplin, comedy, grandmother, granny, hope, John Biscello, laughter, love, may daddi, Prose, smile, spirit-guides, story | 9 Comments

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

Snapshot

Posted on March 29, 2018 by John Biscello

(Excerpt from Raking the Dust) Seven years later, reflecting upon an analytical snapshot held up to the light: Thirty-three, unemployed, a boatload of debt, drinking excessively, divorcee, amateur plumber of shit-clogged pipe dreams—when I got my head stuck up my … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged Brooklyn, fiction, John Biscello, New York, novel, Prose, Raking the Dust, snapshot, story, Taos, writing life | 2 Comments

Meeting D.J.

Posted on March 28, 2018 by John Biscello

(Excerpt from Raking the Dust) I see you decided to join me. I didn’t want you to drink alone. We sat at an empty table flanking the wall. The band was now playing a mournful ballad. Something about two lovers … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged D.J. Alex, excerpt, John Biscello, New York, novel, Prose, Raking the Dust, romance, story, Surrealism, Taos, unsolicited press, writing life | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged book, childhood, completion, draft, dysfunction, family, ghosts, John Biscello, literature, love, no man's brooklyn, novel, Prose, story | 3 Comments

Super Hero

Posted on February 23, 2018 by John Biscello

(Excerpt from No Man’s Brooklyn.) I was six when I found out I’d never become a superhero. We were in the kitchen. Me, my mother, and father. My father’s hand was around my mother’s throat. He had a … Continue reading →

Posted in Prose, Uncategorized | Tagged Brooklyn, childhood, dysfunction, family, fear, John Biscello, no man's brooklyn, novel, Prose, story, super-hero | Leave a comment