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The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books Presents: The PornME Trinity, 2nd Edition

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

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Sticky post
The Opiate Books

The Opiate Books presents Brontosaurus Illustrated

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

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Criticism

Moby-Dick Splooges All Over The Whale

It’s easy to forget that the title of Herman Melville’s most major work, Moby-Dick, has another component to it: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Fittingly, Samuel D. Hunter’s adaptation of his own play, The Whale, has plenty of nods to Moby-Dick. And not just because Charlie is “the whale” in question that everyone seems intent on “getting”—particularly a missionary named Thomas (Ty Simpkins), who wants to … Continue reading Moby-Dick Splooges All Over The Whale

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Poetry

Alternatives by Susie Gharib

Give alternatives for the following, the teacher commands, with a grin,the twelve-year-old who is eager to pass his test.Moonlight, the teacher states with a grimace:A neon tube, the boy promptly replies.A canopy of trees for shelter:A bus stop.A proper bath:A free drizzle.A candle-lit dinner:Chips without fish.Sailing the ocean:Paper boats.A holiday abroad:A book from the public library.Doting parents:Street busking.A pair of pajamas:Old, tattered clothes.Attending church:Text messaging … Continue reading Alternatives by Susie Gharib

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Fiction

The Classmate Who Tells Me Things by Priscilla Atkins 

On an island far away, I study for a semester with a white-haired woman who wears black polish, slender (black) clothes over a skeletal frame and, in the one extant photograph, sunglasses. “Witch,” a classmate whispers. Yes. The visiting prof is old enough for a few hairs on her chinny-chin-chins…and why is she here for the year except for the money (necessity—not greed)? She is … Continue reading The Classmate Who Tells Me Things by Priscilla Atkins 

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Poetry

Truth, Beauty and Photoshop by Cathy Allman

She was born in a deltaof three rivers. He’d been a native of that river which had caught fire. But physics is not biology.Equal and opposite reactionshappen between two bodies. Their past dissolved into next,torn like a lost lotto ticket,scattered as a broken strand of pearls. Their wounds trailed like the wake of a trawler. They argued through that slipstream of eras and ages, cities and places they … Continue reading Truth, Beauty and Photoshop by Cathy Allman

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Poetry

The Fire We Spin Around by Cathy Allman

You were young, and after three Jacks he said he loved you.He touched you awake in places you didn’t know. Decades later, the same man after three Jacks tells you everything wrong with life is because of you. You can’t sleep, and he won’t remember.  You hear his irregular breathing,replay the weeks of his chemo. An owl calls from a tree.The clock on the nightstandticks on, like years. … Continue reading The Fire We Spin Around by Cathy Allman

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Poetry

Princess and Darkness I knew best by Colleen Surprise Jones

Even though they had good lighting,my medallions are coming downI was preparing my bestWell, I just wasn’t expecting itThere’s something that’s exceptionally hard about all this To be completely honest,I do things One at a timeAnd they just aren’t expecting itThey just aren’t accepting this There’s something graceful now about it allIt’s honestI didn’t feel like I lost anythingYou could’ve put it thereEven though I … Continue reading Princess and Darkness I knew best by Colleen Surprise Jones

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Essay

“A Veritable Minefield of Malapropisms”: Benoit Blanc Dares to Say, in the Current Climate, That Misuse of Language Equates to Idiocy

Because of The Times We Live In, there are a great many things one might shy away from uttering aloud. Lest the real-life Thought Police, who haven’t yet been able to infiltrate the mind, call one out for being offensive, affronting and generally wrong as a person. Among such potential offenses is indicating, in any way, that someone who misuses language is, well, a bit … Continue reading “A Veritable Minefield of Malapropisms”: Benoit Blanc Dares to Say, in the Current Climate, That Misuse of Language Equates to Idiocy

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Poetry

Inconvenience by Zeke Greenwald

There appears to be an inane assumption,When we prize too dearly the groans people makeAnd their pain and complaint and compunctionOf some less tender portions of their fate; It would seem that people don’t like the bother;I’ve met young women afraid to leave their roomsBecause they know what a burden they are to others:They believed too well the words others used.  Just look at the … Continue reading Inconvenience by Zeke Greenwald

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