Scott C. Holstad

Here is beatnik poetry ostensibly about beat existence in an unbeat world. This is an intelligent thoughtful man who enjoys Gerald Locklin and, obligatorily, Charles Bukowski, and who endures his own very personal dissipatory exercises in masochism. “woke up with blood/ on the pillow, blood/ on the sheets, blood/ on my breath and/ blood in my mouth/ and the coughing/ started again and/ i turned to spit/ at the trashcan and/ missed and i admired/ the new wall decoration/ as i grabbed a/ cigarette to start/ the bloody day.” Sounds like the opening scene of APOCALYPSE NOW. The collection is too brief for us to discover what pleasures might be had here, and to discover the scope of this man’s psychological peregrinations. A larger dose might be funner, albeit bleakly so. -- Dusty Dog Reviews vol. 11, 1993

This is Little Red Book 13, the 13th book in an increasingly legendary series comprised of 59 books. It was designed to emulate in size and to a degree, somewhat topically, the City Lights Pocket Poets series. This small book shows the beginning of a tortured person slowly losing his mind, conflicted with pressure for therapy, religious "help," unwanted medications, moving toward violence, psychosis and imprisonment. During this journey, he spirals downward developing an obsession with mindless violence and suicidal ideation before finally landing in L.A.'s infamous Twin Towers jail, notorious for gang and race relation problems. So how does it end? DOES it end? This is a book that was printed in a small limited edition press run and sold out asap. It appealed to a diverse audience ranging from SoCal readers and writers to the underground, small press scene to people undergoing similar afflictions to those intrigued by such topics enough to read, but remaining safe in only reading. It began what became a series of increasingly hard edged books of poetry (some were labeled and included in horror anthologies, indexes, catalogs) that were quite different in many ways from most all of Holstad's previous books.

Streets and street life are a major source of inspiration for Mr. Holstad. This chapbook treats themes of eviction, prostitution, and the lowest-common-denominator of human existence. Mr. Holstad is clearly an example of the Flaubertian dictum that all of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at stars. [Scott C. Holstad, Street Poems, mulberry press, PO Box 782288, Wichita, KS 67278] -- factsheet five, vol. 45, 1992

I think this excerpt from a description of me following the publication of this book, written by J Penton, editor & publisher of Sick Puppy Press, is probably one of the best descriptions I could come up with, better than any I would write. What follows is a short excerpt. "When poetry focuses on the more sinful, cruel, and pathological side of human nature, we typically refer to it as “dark.” I wouldn’t describe Scott Holstad’s poetry that way. His works are so violent, angry, and self-effacing that they seem to transcend darkness; they are so engorged with pain that questions of morality and immorality seem irrelevant. Despite his recent Pulitzer nomination, Scott remains active on the small press circuit, which is odd, because you’d think most small presses would be afraid to print this stuff." J Penton, Publisher Sick Puppy P.

Brutal, bloody, gruesome. Witnessing the rapid breakdown of a person going over the edge, who's lost control and we don't know if or what kind of danger they may pose to themselves or others. The future? Jail? Lockdown wards? Meds and more meds? Is there redemption at the end? Readers have written that they've gotten physically ill reading this but still couldn't put it down. It was written to be a huge challenge to any and everyone.

Mike Halchin, in Driver's Side Airbag vol. 17, 1994, wrote this: "… some good quiet reflective material…where you can only walk outside and think…and hope this feeling never ends…" Meanwhile, Frank Allen described it in the Library Journal vol. 2 (1994?) as such: "An introspective, autobiographical glimpse of a working class hero/loner." Probably one of this author's more tranquil books of poems -- a break between previous surviving in the streets, social outrage and activism, some occasional (raunchy?) low brow humor to the later total insanity portrayed in works that would follow this book in a few years.

Discusses the discovery of cells, their structure and functions, and new experiments in DNA research.

When you dig for the painful memories that won't go away, the relics of a man's life, you come away with Artifacts. Artifacts is the latest chapbook from Scott C. Holstad, a man who has made a shocking and powerful mark on the small press scene since he first appeared. Scott's work hangs with a sharp edge, whether he gives you his satirical and often hilarious perspective of being a refugee of the mental health system, or when he talks about his anger, writing with clouds of frustration and explosive revelations about his inner mind. Scott writes with one eye on the people around him who have suffered for his pains, the casualties of the craziness that lurks inside all of us. Artifacts is a book for the strangers and the survivors who populate the poems which have come from Holstad.

"Scott C. Holstad's Binge: Very Highly Recommended." - Marvin Malone, Editor The Wormwood Review, vol. 138

Tells about different kinds of work and work places.

Pay attention. Exactly this lesson Scott lays out line by insightful line in his newest chap. Beginning and ending in the confines of coffeehouses, he points out that caffeinated moments of conversation and meditation can only grow by feeding them with life experience. Scott then takes the rest of the book to describe and analyze life as he sees it in the big city. The usual bad boys, druggies and hookers run the streets of the west, the ER ward works overtime, and all around everyone’s looking for some sort of revolution: salvation for the unrighteous. Scott finds his in an open mind flowing into well-constructed verse, a hot cuppa joe, and some cool jazz. It all keeps him sane and able to sleep at night, making for a guy with something interesting to talk about. -- Pooch, Flipside Magazine vol. 120, 1999

A small collection of poems that are both diverse in various ways yet tie together quite well. Some poems may elicit a sense of the surreal, causing mild discomfort (or perhaps more than mild...) while others bring out vague yet frightening monsters, visions and nightmares that haunt and induce fear. Other poems may seem more "traditional" in their confessional style yet may describe inescapable existential crises that readers have described as leaving one exhausted. However the ending might surprise readers in a very different way. The collection is not large but it packs a punch.