If you’re looking for unusual entertainment during quarantine, the online literary magazine Taco Bell Quarterly might be a perfect source. Its issues feature the work of poets, writers and artists with one thing in common—inspiration from Taco Bell. While the magazine is unaffiliated with the restaurant, for a piece to be accepted, it must relate to Taco Bell in some way.

The Editor Grande Supreme, M. M. Carrigan, began Taco Bell Quarterly in 2019, welcoming anyone to submit work. According to the Taco Bell Quarterly website, its goal is to “create a positive encouraging artistic community of literary Taco Bell writers.” This idea attracted odd, thoughtful and hilarious submissions from students and professional writers alike across the country. The first issue alone features 44 poems, 19 essays, eight fiction pieces and three art pieces. 

“When I sat down to make a Taco Bell literary journal, whatever that looked like, I wanted to get past the joke of it and go for the gut punch,” Carrigan said in the August issue’s opening letter. “In these pages, I promise you will find the gut punch. Sit back, enjoy, laugh, weep. And of course, live más.”

Here you can read anything from essays on Baja Blast and cinnamon twists to a story about a man turned into a chalupa, along with the philosophical side of Taco Bell and reworks of classic poems like “The Red Wheelbarrow.” The second issue was published in February, adding work ranging from sauce packet poetry to “Taco Wasteland” visual art and the medical chart of a crunch wrap.

The website also has a store for anyone wishing to support the magazine. There’s only one item: a $695 Snapple lid decorated with gold paint and black “TBQ” lettering. This “Blessed Medallion” may be expensive, but one benefit is that it does come with free shipping.

The issues are free to read, however, and it’s free to submit work. Whether you feel inspired to create Taco Bell art, poetry or stories yourself, or just want to observe the strange humor of other people’s work, Taco Bell Quarterly is worth a try.