Heat (Metaphor)
Where the word heat has been used, it does not refer to the common hotness but rather to the vagaries of dealing with drugs. Drug leaders are often at many risks and the greatest of them all is being caught by the authorities. In 'What Now My Love' by Floyd Salas, Sam is a drug dealer. Carole and Miles are his associates. Miles is unhappy to be in the same place with Sam and he says that he wasted his time and he risked being busted by the heat. Heat, in this case, means the dangers of being involved with drugs. The authorities could pounce on them at any moment and have them charged and jailed.
Psychedelic posters (Metaphor)
In the rooms where Sam and his accomplices prepared the drugs, and in the stores where the contraband was hidden, there was no furniture but the walls are said to have been covered with dozens of psychedelic posters. The psychedelic posters are not merely an art but they tell of what went on in those hidden places. The predominant drug was acid or LSD which is a hallucinogen meaning that it makes the minds of the users see visions like the ones on the psychedelic posters.
Similes
It was dirty and messy in the rundown kitchen where Sam and his accomplices handled the drugs. The dishes were dirty and piled together. The sink has been described as having looked like a slop pail. This direct comparison of the sink to a slop pail is a simile. The comparison implies that the sink was overly dirty as if it was not being used for the ordinary purpose. This simile points out to the filthiness in which drugs are handled, and why involvement with drugs is not something good for both the peddlers and the users.
There is another simile in the novel that shows just how much drugs were handled and the variety. In the room where the drugs are prepared, there is a bowl where they are thrown after being repackaged into the capsules. The bowl has been described as being bright but at the same time craggy. It is described as looking the same as coral rock and resembling a shell from the South Sea. Apart from showing the amount of the drugs that were involved, there is a covert reference to the impact of the pills on the user. They might experience the colorful hallucination but at the same time, they will become kind of rough and old.
