These days the need to escape our everyday reality is palpable. With surprising depth and incredible syntax, Joe Rosenblatt’s Bite Me! offers a chance to slip into a light-hearted fantasy world filled with creatures and camp.

While there are no shortage of cephalopods and carnivorous flowers, one might assume the book is merely a work of whimsy. But there are moments of tender sincerity, too. The metaphor of monsters in the world gives the sad, chilly horrors of life a home, so that they no longer have to inhabit our physical bodies.

This book tackles the truths of mortality, ostracism and grief while laughing in the face of danger:

Time drifting as a bottom-feeder makes a meal of us.
And as it moves, nibbling sediment, it emits a squeak.

Monsters are truly everywhere. Usually, though, they look just like us.

You can purchase your copy of Bit Me! from The Porcupine’s Quill.

Bite Me monsters morality poetry wildlife