diff --git a/Lib/concurrent/interpreters/_queues.py b/Lib/concurrent/interpreters/_queues.py
index 9c12b2c8c24664..8f2f1cb5753584 100644
--- a/Lib/concurrent/interpreters/_queues.py
+++ b/Lib/concurrent/interpreters/_queues.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def create(maxsize=0, *, unbounditems=UNBOUND):
     """
     unbound = _serialize_unbound(unbounditems)
     unboundop, = unbound
-    qid = _queues.create(maxsize, unboundop, -1)
+    qid = _queues.create(maxsize, unboundop)
     self = Queue(qid)
     self._set_unbound(unboundop, unbounditems)
     return self
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py b/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py
index 5451c6654acb47..742b253ac4b8ab 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_interpreters/test_queues.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ def test_highlevel_reloaded(self):
         importlib.reload(queues)
 
     def test_create_destroy(self):
-        qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE, -1)
+        qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
         _queues.destroy(qid)
         self.assertEqual(get_num_queues(), 0)
         with self.assertRaises(queues.QueueNotFoundError):
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def test_not_destroyed(self):
             '-c',
             dedent(f"""
                 import {_queues.__name__} as _queues
-                _queues.create(2, {REPLACE}, -1)
+                _queues.create(2, {REPLACE})
                 """),
         )
         self.assertEqual(stdout, '')
@@ -67,13 +67,13 @@ def test_not_destroyed(self):
 
     def test_bind_release(self):
         with self.subTest('typical'):
-            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE, -1)
+            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
             _queues.bind(qid)
             _queues.release(qid)
             self.assertEqual(get_num_queues(), 0)
 
         with self.subTest('bind too much'):
-            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE, -1)
+            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
             _queues.bind(qid)
             _queues.bind(qid)
             _queues.release(qid)
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def test_bind_release(self):
             self.assertEqual(get_num_queues(), 0)
 
         with self.subTest('nested'):
-            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE, -1)
+            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
             _queues.bind(qid)
             _queues.bind(qid)
             _queues.release(qid)
@@ -89,10 +89,31 @@ def test_bind_release(self):
             self.assertEqual(get_num_queues(), 0)
 
         with self.subTest('release without binding'):
-            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE, -1)
+            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
             with self.assertRaises(queues.QueueError):
                 _queues.release(qid)
 
+    def test_parse_fallback(self):
+        # see https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/137686
+        # does not raise TypeError / OverflowError / ValueError
+        for arg in False, True, None, -1, 2**1000:
+            _queues.create(2, REPLACE, fallback=arg)
+        msg = r'create\(\) takes at most 2 positional arguments'
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(TypeError, msg):
+            _queues.create(2, REPLACE, -1)
+
+        obj = None
+        unboundop = -1
+        for arg in False, True, None, -1, 2**1000:
+            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
+            _queues.put(qid, obj, unboundop, fallback=arg)
+            _queues.destroy(qid)
+        msg = r'put\(\) takes at most 3 positional arguments'
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(TypeError, msg):
+            qid = _queues.create(2, REPLACE)
+            _queues.put(qid, obj, unboundop, -1)
+            _queues.destroy(qid)
+
 
 class QueueTests(TestBase):
 
diff --git a/Modules/_interpqueuesmodule.c b/Modules/_interpqueuesmodule.c
index e5afe746f90bdc..8b177cbceb6927 100644
--- a/Modules/_interpqueuesmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_interpqueuesmodule.c
@@ -1486,7 +1486,7 @@ queuesmod_create(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
     Py_ssize_t maxsize;
     int unboundarg = -1;
     int fallbackarg = -1;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "n|ii:create", kwlist,
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "n|i$p:create", kwlist,
                                      &maxsize, &unboundarg, &fallbackarg))
     {
         return NULL;
@@ -1603,7 +1603,7 @@ queuesmod_put(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
     PyObject *obj;
     int unboundarg = -1;
     int fallbackarg = -1;
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O&O|ii$p:put", kwlist,
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O&O|i$p:put", kwlist,
                                      qidarg_converter, &qidarg, &obj,
                                      &unboundarg, &fallbackarg))
     {