Instant Noodles is on online literary magazine. Part of the Devil’s Party Press family, Instant Noodles is the opportunity that brought the majority of the authors to Old Scratch Press. It is ALWAYS free to read, and free to submit to.
Old Scratch Press is curating the December 2023 issue? The theme for the December edition is “Cooold Turkey.”
Please take note, we’re shortening our word count. Can you take the challenge and keep it brief by making every word count? For our Winter issue we’re asking our writers to limit their poetry submissions to 2 poems (up to a combined total of 500 words). Prose writers, we’ll be only publishing work that is 500 words or less. (If you need to finish a sentence, we’ll cut you a little slack). Remember, we only publish writers over the age of forty and it’s important to submit work that is somehow related to the theme. Guest Editors for the Winter issue include: GABBY GILLIAM: Poetry, R.DAVID FULCHER: Fiction, ALAN BERN and DIANNE PEARCE: Art, and NADJA MARIL: Memoir/Creative Nonfiction.
The issue opens for submissions August 15, 2023. Submissions close on October 15th.
Thanks to Annette Tarpley for choosing to highlight Ellis on her program! Ellis reads some of her book and has a nice long chat with Annette. Stop by and watch!
NM: In your notes about the book, you mention wanting initially to tell the story of Jonah and the Whale. How do you see that story relating to the plotline of Hibernaculum?
AD: The Jonah story has always held a particular fascination for me. Both the Christian and the Islamic versions are so rich in symbolism and psychological truths that I could go on writing about them and never get bored (though the reader probably would). Hibernaculum was originally intended as part of a triptych called Three Jonahs. The other installments are a recently-finished novel called Jestor, and a poetry chapbook called Jonah’s Map of the Whale (which is currently with Old Scratch Press). Each work explores the Jonah story from a different angle. In Hibernaculum, I imagined the process of hibernation and the hibernaculum dome itself as a “whale” that swallows the sleeper. Instead of 3 days, this descent into the underworld lasts 3 months or more. Jonah had plotted his course: he was going to board a ship at Joppa Port and sail away to Tarshish (Gibraltar). That was his plan, but it wasn’t the right one (he was supposed to go to the city of Nineveh). We have our plan, our course, collectively and individually, and it doesn’t seem to be the right one either, and sooner or later we’re going to be tipped out of our own boat and forced to reconsider. That’s what Hibernaculum is about: a society forced to reconsider its “course”.
As evidenced in this week’s post, constantly reading poetry helps to cultivate the poet in all of us. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been writing poetry for years, there are always new poets to discover and poets from previous centuries to rediscover!
My Favorite Poem
By Gabby Gilliam
I have a hard time picking favorites. Whenever someone asks me my favorite book or favorite song, I’m incapable of narrowing it down to only one. I’ve found the same can be said for poetry.
I try to read at least one collection of poems a month, though I catch snippets of poetry daily. I have some perennial favorites, but I have a new favorite poem every time I come across a poem that resonates with me. I recently finished Unshuttered by Patricia Smith. It’s a beautiful ekphrastic collection inspired by old photographs she has collected from thrift stores. The first poem in the collection immediately struck me and has become my current favorite, though the rest of the poems are also wonderful. The poems in Unshuttered are titled by their position in the book, so my current favorite poem is titled 1.
One of the things I enjoyed about 1 is the end rhyme. It’s rare to come across a poem with such perfect end rhyme that doesn’t feel forced. Nothing about Smith’s poem feels obvious. I also think the direct address to Anna and the speaker’s pleading make the poem feel so personal.
I don’t often read rhyming poetry, but it’s funny that both poems that immediately came to mind when thinking about favorites happen to rhyme. One of my first favorite poets was Dorothy Parker, and I’m still delighted by her poetry. She taught me that poetry doesn’t have to be lofty and difficult to interpret. That sharp words can resonate as forcefully as flowery prose (and usually more so!). Parker’s poems Resumé and One Perfect Rose both made me chuckle the first time I read them. Unlike Smith, Parker’s use of rhyme is purposefully obvious. It’s her unexpected images and phrasing that make the poems an unexpected surprise. I think poets often take themselves too seriously, and Parker wasn’t afraid to have fun with her writing.
One Perfect Rose
By Dorothy Parker 1893 – 1967
A single flow’r he sent me, since we met. All tenderly his messenger he chose; Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet— One perfect rose.
I knew the language of the floweret; “My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclose.” Love long has taken for his amulet One perfect rose.
Why is it no one ever sent me yet One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get One perfect rose.
From Enough Rope (Boni & Liveright, 1926) by Dorothy Parker. This poem is in the public domain.
These two poets are drastically different, but I love their work for the response their work evokes in me––which I think we can agree is what we’re all looking for in a good poem.
We are proud to announce that Old Scratch Press will be publishing Gabby’s first chapbook of poems. The working title is No Ocean Spit Me Out. Approximately 30 pages in length, the poems in No Ocean Spit Me Out explore the dynamics and evolution of family relationships. It is scheduled for release in 2024, so keep following our website as well as Gabby for more details.
“A deeply felt collection of candid verse.” KIRKUS
“Ellis Elliott’s compelling Break in the Field creates associations between humanity, nature, and time that deserve not only individual inspection and appreciation, but spirited discussions about contemporary poetry’s ability to attract and react to life’s events with bigger-picture reflections about growth, freedom, and life lessons.” MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
“This gripping, heart wrenching exploration of her inner most thoughts and feelings while caring for her extreme needs stepson, “[whose] brain vessels shattered at birth into a million stars,” are so raw, so deeply forthright, from a place of such compassion, tenderness, and introspection that I found myself tearful many times.” KARI GUNTER-SEYMOUR Ohio Poet Laureate and author of ALONE IN THE HOUSE OF MY HEART
Devil’s Party proudly presents BREAK IN THE FIELD, a captivating and heartfelt poetry collection by Ellis Elliott. Deeply personal, Ellis’ collection looks at the enlightening experience of parenting a profoundly disabled stepson, while simultaneously embracing the other shifts in mid-life.
A 2023 National Book Award nominee title, this outstanding collection arrives July 2023 under the DPP imprint, Old Scratch Press.
Old Scratch Press (OSP) was formed as a way to help poets get their poetry out there. It is our hope that someday we will offer many opportunities for poets. Our first mission, though, was to see if we could publish the books of the group members, as a way to see if we could support each other, function well as a cohesive group, etc., before we took on other people and their poetry or short-form dreams.
And so the first OSP book has been released: Break in the Field by Ellis Elliott. Why is Ellis’ book first? She won the coin-toss, or, in our virtual case, the random-#-generator-toss.
However, that luck of the draw does not lesson the beauty of the book. It’s a beautiful book, and the poetry is accessible and so relatable. I have a daughter with a disability, and I found this, really, meditation on mothering and parenting, so moving and important. I also worked for years in group homes and etc. for people with disabilities, and the book really speaks to me because it humanizes people with disabilities, and, too often, their disabilities make them so unable to make good contact with those of us of average capabilities, that we never stop to imagine their needs or feelings or think that they even have desires. Ellis’ book tackles that notion of supplying the concept of being human from the outside in, to a person who can seem like an object more than a person. I struggled, in my years as a staff trainer, to help the staff I trained to come around to that more full view of the people we took care of, but it was a tough sell, sadly, to some of the staff. Ellis’ makes it something we don’t learn, but we feel and know in our bones. I love this book for that.
The cover is a photo of one of the dollhouses Ellis rehabs as one of her artistic outlets. On her blog she has a very lovely post explaining how she came to want to have that as her cover, and I think you’d enjoy that too. Ellis is also in process on a cozy mystery series, and I highly suggest you follow her on her very interesting blog, especially if you are an author, or an aspiring author, as she offers lots of writing tips.
I earned my MFA as a poet, something I never expected to get into when I decided to further study writing, and I’ve always really loved poetry (my own included…. lol) and I am so very happy that we can publish poetry. The book was put together by the Devil’s Party Press crew of two, but also proofread and dusted and cleaned by volunteers from the collective. There is no way at all, though, that I, or Dave and I, could have done it without all of the OSP members: Nadja, Ellis, Anthony, David, Ginny, Gabby, Janet, Alan, Morgan, and stalwart meeting leader, Robert, may the poetry gods bless him for always remembering to hit record, among other things. These folks are volunteering their time to show up to Saturday morning meetings, to take minutes (the ultimate sacrifice) at these meetings, to edit each others’ books, and working to promote each others’ books, and that is what every author needs, a team of supporters. Poets are not TikTok influencers, racking up 10,000 likes, but poetry is more important. I think that poetry makes the unexplainable able to be shared; that’s how I would sum it up. I’m not sure which of the members volunteered to do an edit and proofread for Ellis, but all of the members are helping OSP in general, to grow.
Back in 1989 when I was putting a poem and two dollar bills in an envelope with an SASE and sending it off in the mail, I almost never even found out if the poem had reached its destination, but when it did make it, I always received a request back, in my SASE, to please subscribe to the Zine. I never did, because I made about 60/week, and most of that went on bus fare, and, frankly, I didn’t care about other people’s poetry. I cared about mine. But, that was wrong. I mean, I couldn’t help the financial situation back then, and, though that hasn’t much changed now (lol), when I have a friend put out a poetry collection, or a poet I don’t know but admire puts out a new collection, I buy it. I usually buy two, actually, and give one as a gift. Without people doing that, poetry will fade from view, and we’ll lose something that is all magic. Magic is rare. Poetry is one way to hold magic.
The collective is going to curate the holiday/end-of-year issue of Instant Noodles, and choose the theme for next year’s issues, and we are in talks to see what other opportunities we can provide for poetry readers and writers, so follow us, and see what we bring to the world of poetry and short-form writing, and, if we make it. We could end up as a fabulous poetry cooperative, or as the modern, poetic version of the Donner Party, or anything in between. This is still an experiment. So far, I think we can feel quite proud, all of us in the group, of our first book.
And I am really excited for the next book too: White Noir, by Robert Fleming. It’s very different from Break in the Field, and I like the diversity of movement from one book to the next, and that our group has such variety of style. It is very exciting. White Noir should be up for pre-order in the coming months…. hopefully sooner than later, but there hasn’t been an author, from a single story or poem, to a whole book, who hasn’t had to be patient waiting for DPP to get caught up. 🙂 We appreciate the patience, and we hope you’ll follow along on the great experiment of OSP.
Thank you for supporting these wonderful authors, and independent publishing, and authors over 40, and late bloomers, and poetry, art, words as art…. It means so much to me.
Congratulations, Old Scratch Press, on a book successfully and collaboratively done.
Congratulation Ellis, on your wonderful book of poetry.
We are proud to announce that Old Scratch Press will be publishing Gabby’s first chapbook of poems. The working title is No Ocean Spit Me Out. Approximately 30 pages in length, the poems in No Ocean Spit Me Out explore the dynamics and evolution of family relationships. It is scheduled for release in 2024, so keep following our website as well as Gabby for more details.
OLD SCRATCH PRESS 