The Opiate Books Presents Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life: A Satire of the 00s

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. Buy a tangible copy online at Bookshop.org here. Or … Continue reading The Opiate Books Presents Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life: A Satire of the 00s

Genna RivieccioJuly 1, 2019December 16, 2020Leave a comment

Poetry

June Burial by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

The ides of giugno find me reading— of all things—Robert Lowell.The day is quite beautifuland cool (this pencil much too dark).Slept well. Refreshed. Therefrigerator is at last defrosted.I don’t know whatmoved me to remove Robert L.from the shelf—I won’t quibble.I’ve made my peacewith his equivocal hell.His sad tale strikes me nowas having been not spiritually diseasedbut tragically corporeal.A hulking man whose heart in a bowlhad overbrimmed … Continue reading June Burial by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

Genna RivieccioJune 14, 20211 Comment

Fiction

Childhood by Cara Hoffman

It was my childhood dream to become either an alcoholic, or a very old man. After thinking it over it became obvious that the latter, though it would be more difficult to achieve in the short-term, would afford me more respect. I dressed in brown corduroy pants and oxford shirts, tweed sports jackets and loafers. I kept a pack of Players navy-cut cigarettes in my … Continue reading Childhood by Cara Hoffman

Genna RivieccioJune 13, 2021June 14, 20213 Comments

Poetry

Old Filament, Broken Bulb by David Estringel

A white bolt from aboverips through the clouds before our eyes—an epiphany—showering cuts upon the kitchen table,releasing bad blood,testing our guileand gristle. Continue reading Old Filament, Broken Bulb by David Estringel

Genna RivieccioJune 9, 20211 Comment

Poetry

Derision by Susie Gharib

It all begins at home,with the wooden pram,the set of coffee cups,and the two-plaited doll,the daughter who is destined for marital servitude,whose dowry may bring some profit to a household,and who in olden times used to be buried alive for she was considered an ill omenthough her father who buried her was himself conceived in a womb. At school, she is not supposed to compete with … Continue reading Derision by Susie Gharib

Genna RivieccioJune 6, 20211 Comment

Poetry

L’Américain by Christopher Nielsen

AméricainAméricain!He calls out in Frenchnear the train station at Cassisl’homme eager small young traveler,early twenties. Showing me a book byJack Kerouac—Le vagabond solitaire.Asked if I liked Kerouac; for sure. Rucksack partially strappedover his back,smiling, you’re américainhe can tell, feel it. We both have packs, riding le chemin de ferstop for stops, hiking, campingmaking friends. Days later, grabbing my rucksack,to ride the trains again.Traveling along for Saint-Tropez, Nice,maybe Monaco.Blurring … Continue reading L’Américain by Christopher Nielsen

Genna RivieccioMay 31, 2021May 31, 20215 Comments

Criticism

Yes, Daddy Is A No

In 2005, a “trick” movie called Self Medicated was released. “Trick” not meaning prostitute, so much as deception. Jonathan Parks-Ramage’s Yes, Daddy, in some sense, feels like that movie. It’s marketed as being “raw” and “unbridled,” when, in fact, it’s all ultimately a bid to get people to see the “good” in Christianity (or at least Christian principles)—no matter how many times it (and life) fucks you over. … Continue reading Yes, Daddy Is A No

Genna RivieccioMay 25, 2021May 26, 20211 Comment

Poetry

I Bit the Hand by Donna Dallas

The hand that fedclothedheldsmotheredthe same hand that posed itself as comfortfostered my birth I chewed into the knucklesthey crunched and poppedripped the hand offshook it with ragecame back later to lickdown to bone My savagery straight from the wombor nurtured so off the spectrumI was bled to believeI squeezed out taintedat eight I put a plastic bag over my headto diethe hand did not remove … Continue reading I Bit the Hand by Donna Dallas

Genna RivieccioMay 16, 2021Leave a comment

Criticism

2012 and Alcoholism Survivor Support Group: Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation

Like her main character, Megan Nolan feels bad. Bad that she couldn’t have offered a “cheerier” book, perhaps, to the masses–but most especially bad for those in her hometown of Waterford, Ireland, which also cameos in what, for some, might be an all too recognizable tale. Aptly called Acts of Desperation. A title, in fact, that makes one marvel at how no author ever thought … Continue reading 2012 and Alcoholism Survivor Support Group: Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation

Genna RivieccioMay 9, 2021May 9, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

Revolution by Susie Gharib

[A reading of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities] The word reeks with the ravings of mankind,the spilling of blood that is redder than wine,the chopping of heads like chickens’ at the slaughterhouse,the barbarous pillage of every temple of God,the perpetuation of the legacy of original but now genetic crime.And amid the stench of persecuted blooda man sought the guillotine to part with his … Continue reading Revolution by Susie Gharib

Genna RivieccioMay 6, 2021Leave a comment

Poetry

Zola, not Lincoln by Xavier Jones

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and … Continue reading Zola, not Lincoln by Xavier Jones

Genna RivieccioMay 1, 2021May 1, 20211 Comment