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The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books Presents: I Love Paris by Rufo Quintavalle

A city of romance, a city of trash, a city of tourists, a city perpetually burning. For those who can see and hear the poetry in Paris, no matter what state it’s in, Rufo Quintavalle’s incisive collection, which addresses subjects and towns well beyond la France, is the perfect élixir for enfants terribles and modèles de vertu alike. Enjoy un petit goût of the book via Spotify here. Buy I Love Paris at Barnes … Continue reading The Opiate Books Presents: I Love Paris by Rufo Quintavalle

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The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books Presents: Atlas, Bound by Victor Marrero

There are few poetry books of its kind. And perhaps for good reason. After all, a collection of this nature isn’t easy to achieve. For Victor Marrero manages to take a hyper-specific subject matter–Michelangelo’s unfinished “Four Prisoners” sculptures–and deftly expand it so as to apply to such universal themes as humankind’s endless quest for meaning in existence, its tendency toward self-imprisonment and the author’s own … Continue reading The Opiate Books Presents: Atlas, Bound by Victor Marrero

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The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books Presents: The PornME Trinity, 2nd Edition by David Leo Rice

Perhaps too unbelievable to fathom at the beginning of 2020, The PornME Trinity by David Leo Rice has taken on an entirely new meaning and resonance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. An (ongoing) era, as we all know, when everyone was forced to acknowledge just how bleak and ersatz their existence really was when confined to four walls (whether at work or at … Continue reading The Opiate Books Presents: The PornME Trinity, 2nd Edition by David Leo Rice

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The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books Presents: Brontosaurus Illustrated by Leanne Grabel

Regular readers of The Opiate may recognize Leanne Grabel’s work from the pages of our magazine, where we previously serialized Brontosaurus. Now available as Brontosaurus Illustrated, this is the work as you’ve never seen it–gorgeously illustrated and beautifully designed with the help of Robin Chilstrom. Don’t miss out on this truly unique and unprecedented memoir that turns a lasting trauma into something triumphant and hopeful. … Continue reading The Opiate Books Presents: Brontosaurus Illustrated by Leanne Grabel

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The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books Presents: Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life, 2nd Edition by Genna Rivieccio

The book that was too hot to handle in Hollywood and all other mainstream locales (basically just leaving Italy, where scandal is sacrosanct and nobody reads anyway). Find out the truth about the 00s and the butterfly effect of Lindsay Lohan not only on our current Kardashian-Jenner driven culture, but on ex-socialite and underdog Tate Carmichael. Available via Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Blackwell’s, Amazon, Book … Continue reading The Opiate Books Presents: Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life, 2nd Edition by Genna Rivieccio

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Poetry

The Ghostman by Jonathan Jansikok

The tyranny of the past sweeps over tent city, baking in the sun, undulating waves in yellow light. The ghostman crouched against the wall stares at me with dark eye sockets wrapped tightly by the sun’s deep exhale. His left arm outstretched before me. His right hand floating above the forearm like he is playing a sideways harp. I sit and listen, but the asphalt burns more than his sad song. Continue reading The Ghostman by Jonathan Jansikok

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Essay

Faux Erudition and The Taylor Swift TTPD Bump When It Comes to an Interest in Literature

Among the many glowing reviews that Taylor Swift’s eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, has received, a line from one in particular sought to further position the work as genuine poetry—high-brow prose. To be more specific, The Times’ review deemed the songs on the album to be “as rich and concise as a short story collection.” Even if no truly rich and concise short story … Continue reading Faux Erudition and The Taylor Swift TTPD Bump When It Comes to an Interest in Literature

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Poetry

Homemade by Heidi Joffe

Metamorphosis of a Plate. Rubber-ups poundedpatterned tissueonto my green skin, precise,glaziers dipped and poured,dressed me in glass, at six hundred degrees Celsius, the kill,clay to pot, irreversible,chemical and physicalreaction elements white hotwares glow though the peephole, a universe spinningthrough my fire, every moleculebounces and spewsits last drops thumbed, spun, cast,within saggars, my bonesfire-licked,delicate to hard, an oddman stokes the wood,holes up the wall,cooks up breakfastin … Continue reading Homemade by Heidi Joffe

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Poetry

When Do You Get to Be Angry? by Sophie Roy

Emma’s birthday partyAftermathOpen a windowBurn the green top in the sinkWatch it burn.  Axelle’s birthday partySmash his head through the living room’s windowThe girls will thank you for it tomorrow morning. Women bond over pain. Is it okay for me to say that? Am I allowed to be angry?  14th of july, nice day for a miscarriage. Bloody tiles;Bloody Mary. Wanna go to the pool? Cannonball styleHow far can … Continue reading When Do You Get to Be Angry? by Sophie Roy

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Poetry

This Is How I Bury My Dead TNs by Seb Callaway

two bodies on the train, shimmeringfat on the form makes me out to be soft and porousand penetrable but what if I want to existas something a polished slab of wet concreteuprootedan infinite ashtray isgrowing beneath floral wallpaper i can feel my sneakers rotting off my feeti wear these holographic TNspulsating veinswatching people watching me as i watch themon the 2 during a prime july … Continue reading This Is How I Bury My Dead TNs by Seb Callaway

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Poetry

Regretfully Yours by Dale Champlin

“and even you forgot those brilliant flashes seen from afar” —Ruth Stone I should have taken you up on that trip to Mexico—my only chance to swim in the gulf, to surfthe exotic and erotic; tequila, bizarro birds,burnished sunrise through slats in the shutters,instead of a turndown. My big mistake was to playthe fool—too cool for school. I should have held youin my strong arms, … Continue reading Regretfully Yours by Dale Champlin

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Book Review

Mother Is Not Mothering: Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died

For the past almost two years, it’s been all but impossible to go into any bookstore without seeing the now indelible image of Jennette McCurdy holding a pink urn with confetti sprouting out of it as she bears an expression somewhere between hopeful, happy and defiant. As the book, titled I’m Glad My Mom Died, makes clear, it took McCurdy a very long time to … Continue reading Mother Is Not Mothering: Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died

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