July 14, 2026
ISBN 9798234114129 / Paperback / 80 pages

Pissing in the Fountain of Youth is a collaboration between the author and various versions of himself throughout several decades—a map of life, a journal of rough truths and sad times, psychic boredom, psychedelic nightmares, and lovesick daydreams. The title was penned at age fourteen and then forgotten about until a recent discovery of old notebooks. From podunk to metropolis, year after year, fragments of poems were found and finished, or rearranged entirely. These resurrected, amnesiac, solo exquisite-corpse poems are accompanied in this collection by new writing. The culmination is an X-ray of a mind being seatbelted by a woodpecker’s tongue.

“Surrealistically delicious. Abstract, funny, weird in the best way possible.”

— Lydia Lunch, writer, performer, and No Wave icon

“Justin Gradin writes like the bastard love-child of John Giorno and Richard Brautigan. His work is smart, funny and idiosyncratic with a dark, wildass voice and vision all his own.”

— Jerry Stahl, novelist, screenwriter, and author of Permanent Midnight

“The marvelous creations of a singularly warped mind. This man is clearly deranged . . . and immensely talented.”

— John Tottenham, poet, artist, and author of Service (Semiotext(e))

“I was first introduced to Justin’s art and the world he’s built around it more than fifteen years ago. I’ve always loved it. This book is my introduction to his poetry. Same world, new window. Amazing.”

— Mac DeMarco, singer, songwriter, and producer

“Justin Gradin writes poetry as if your heart has been set on fire by the dismay of all that the soul can feel and is seeking remedy for life’s vivacious fever dream of doom. His humorous yet tender emotional attention to the details of moving throughout the world rattles your strings and bruises the bone. He luxuriates in brutality and pours himself onto the page, bleeding like a broken fire hydrant and soaking everything in sight.”

— Vanessa Matic, author, artist, and founder of the Agape Lodge Poetry Society

Justin Gradin is a writer, producer, director, and multidisciplinary artist. As a graphic novelist, he has published two books and contributed a short story to an anthology from Fantagraphics Books. His first poetry chapbook, Brainwashing the Dirty Mind, was released in 2023. He has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Cover artwork by Justin Gradin.