Today the veil of snow descendsOn the pasture of beach weeds I call the lawn.Until the weather warms, it willLie in state, as does your memory, my furry friend.Oh, that you could see the white and feel,Under your paws, the bracing chill of it.Simple is my wish:Ever and ever until I follow you home. Continue reading Simple Wish by Jim Stewart
I should have kneltin the street,put my head in your lap,and let you stroke my hair.But we didn’t know. We were ten.Would you have growninto a woman who founda cure for what killed you?Is that why it killed you?Would we have becomebest friends again and again? If I had knownthat a lifetime laterI would still feel what I feel,I would have knelt in the street,put … Continue reading A Question for Cheryl by Jim Stewart
We are strangerscarrying death notes in our teeth,warding off the evils of a rampant virus. Two meters and a galaxy apart,be sure not to speak,not to breathe,not to cry. behind his maskhe is an open handsunlight filling a cold roomlaughter first thing in the morning behind my maski am an isolation tanka storm inside an enforced shelterchaos in the eye of a bomb We are … Continue reading Isolation Tank by Susan Richardson
Mark, Phillip and Greg had been out of school just two weeks, but were already immersed in the intoxication of summer. In seven years, they would be part of the 1985 graduating class of Indian Hills High School but that was a lifetime away. The dread of starting sixth grade would hit them maybe around mid-August but, for now, their freedom was unbounded. The weather … Continue reading Summer Spell by Garvin Livingston
Morbidly witnessing, I can’t turn away, draw shallow breaths to the tuneof tense piano, down-tempo electronica with staccato strings & pulsating percussion.My eyes mostly covered in palms,cautious to see only the snippets squeezing past the cracks in my fingers.Clever detectives note every hair, every errant fiber, blood-tinged footprints in the snow, splatter distance & subtle hesitation marks. All the pieces matter.My craving for why is insatiable, until I plunge an ordinary … Continue reading When I Watch True Crime Documentaries on Netflix by Bridget Kriner
No cloud was in the sky & no birds flying overhead, there are no birds to fly You first become aware & alert, overcome denial. His contemptuous chortles echo in the tones of a shark. His frumious footfalls approach & you glimpse the vorpal metal in his hand appearing smaller than its actual size.The stuck voice in your throat quivers, timid & tremulous.Manxome foe with eyes of flame lurks in wait& … Continue reading Alice in Training® by Bridget Kriner
I. silver cells abound in glistening fieldthe body turns, a whooping crane listens.Fish beneath the shadowed surfacedart in seizure spasmsThe crane’s beak jabs into the water, lacerating gills II. hairless, mouth ajar, dark circles underneath the eyes,stomach in rebellion, T cells on strike. There has to be a better way to die listless, pallor, eyes fluttering, hallucinating,blind, cancer in recession, it doesn’t matter anymore. There … Continue reading There has to be a better way to die by Peter Crowley
She watched her husband drink his beer in the amphitheater as the loud music washed over them. So joyous in the moment. What a shame. “I am so fucking psyched for this concert.” He leaned forward as if listening intently. “Wow, sounds really different.” “He’s sounded different for like twenty years.” She studied him. “I mean compared to the records I own.” “Those albums were … Continue reading Scraping the Bucket by Max Talley
The following is an interview conducted between The Opiate Books’ Anton Bonnici and the publishing house’s star author, Tate Carmichael, who released Lindsay Lohan Stole My Life earlier this year. Although it’s not always easy to pin the (ex-)socialite down, she was able to make time in her busy roster of prison activities to speak with Mr. Bonnici, a lowly plebe not worthy of a … Continue reading A Date With Tate: Interviewing Miss Carmichael
Life is a carnival of extremes. That much Rufo Quintavalle seems to be aware of, as he makes apparent in his latest poetry collection, I Love Paris. Not only regaling us with truthful and haunting visions, but also showing us that existence is rarely black and white. Particularly in Paris. Where it’s more like a rain-soaked panoply of hues muted in gray. Masterfully tracing the undulating freedoms … Continue reading I Love Paris: Rufo Quintavalle’s Elucidative Portrait of Urban Life by Audrey Vinkenes
