The German word for poetry is Dichtung, and Germans know a poem as a Gedicht. Both words derive from the middle-high-German tihten, old-high-German dihtōn, or tihtōn which mean to write, draft, compose, or conceive textually, and the German reference has its origin in the Latin dictare, to dictate. If we take some liberty and go sideways, the word Dichtung, in German, is also a gasket or a seal that makes something tight, dense, or dicht. In that sense poetry may be a densified text, something that has been shaped by the author through many iterations to arrive at something carefully crafted, edited, compressed, tight (dicht). With that in mind, our little (compressed and tight) publishing house Musca Press offers poetry from a wide range of authors as an imprint of Culicidae Press, Hog Press, and Zanzara Press. 

The Musca in our name means fly in Latin, and the word exists both as a southern constellation in the sky, and as a genus in biology. We are happy with mis-readings, and think of these sideways explorations as textual switches that consider language from a playful perspective while not preventing the importance of serious work.

Our authors come from many walks of life, and we are proud of the growing list of talented writers who chose Culicidae Press, our mother ship of publishing, as a venue to share their ideas with the world.