Animal
Animal nature,
deprived for too long,
will eventually snap, biting
with teeth black and gnarly,
jagged and hateful,
preternatural, cancerous,
crass, distorted by instinct,
left out of consideration by higher consciousness,
angry, primal,
distrustful, and mad with rage
for no damned discernible reason at all.
Elusive
We’re all looking
for something better
than what we are;
something deeper
than what we’ve felt;
something stronger
than what we’ve sensed;
something more honest
than what we’ve
been telling ourselves;
something more steady;
something more calm;
something more real
than what we’ve experienced;
something that never
winds up hurting us
in the end;
something sweet
that isn’t addictive;
something alive
that doesn’t die on us;
something powerful
that never loses its grace;
something that never runs dry;
something that never talks back;
something that comforts us
when we are hurt;
something that understands
the existential pain;
something that does not lack
in the moments
when we need it most;
something that is brave
when we are full of fear;
something that fits the bill;
something that naturally
smiles for the camera
without having to fake the cheese;
something rich without pretension;
something high without a kite.
Walking in the Dark
Sometimes life can seem to be
a play
with nothing but bad actors
and a hack writer
that can’t seem to get the lines straight.
Sometimes the world can seem to be
a stage
with a stockpile
of broken spotlights
that cast shadows over every scene.
Primal Priorities
Elegance and style
whispered from the tongue of divinity
grace the atmosphere
where two blue birds dance
in a synchronized sort of way
which displays a beautiful tribute to their breed.
Once tired,
the creatures drift slowly upon the wind
down to the cold Earth
where they begin to peck into the soil,
digging for fat fleshy worms
that can be guzzled
down their throats
in a type of natural urge
that proves beyond the shadow of a doubt
that elegance and style,
enchanting and marvelous as they may be,
don’t mean a damn thing
if the belly isn’t full.
Methodology
Sometimes
it is Holy Spirit
and Kingdom of God
and synchronicity
and miraculous happenstance
and higher truth
and deeper meaning
and love, love, love
all the time
Sometimes
it is soil and dirt
and mud and grime
and shit and slime
and filth and flesh
and animal instinct
and preternatural urge
and worms and caskets
and graves and bones
and dust and ash
unto death
Sometimes
it is metaphors
and abstractions
and allusions
and coded meaning
and beating around the bush
and innuendo
and parables
and fairy tales
and ethics and morality
for the mind
Sometimes
it is straight to the heart
of the core
of the truth
with pinpoint precision
and razor sharp focus
and zeroed in energy
to finish the job
God’s Opera
The ping of one empty bottle
clinking against another
beside my bed
as I pull up the Cabernet
to finish off the last glass
for the night
sounds like a symphony
orchestrated by the celestial stars.
Every empty bottle
is a note.
Every bottle
is an accomplishment.
Every bottle is a poem.
Every bottle is a story.
Every bottle is in my blood,
it’s in my mind,
it’s in my kidneys,
it’s in my liver,
it’s in my words.
Every bottle is in me, is of me,
is for me, is by me, is with me.
Every bottle loves me,
like I love it – simpatico
forever
Amen.
Scott Thomas Outlar hosts the site 17Numa.wordpress.com where links to his published poetry, fiction, essays, and interviews can be found. He is a Best of the Net and three-time Pushcart Prize nominee whose words have appeared in more than 250 print and/or online publications. Scott's chapbook Songs of a Dissident (Transcendent Zero Press) was released in 2015 is available here. His poetry collection Happy Hour Hallelujah (CTU
Publishing) was released in August of 2016 and is available
here. His poetry collection Chaos Songs (Weasel
Press) was released in September of 2016. Scott has been contributing a weekly poem for the
Sunday Poetry Page of the Social Justice newsletter Dissident Voice since
the Spring of 2014. He is a proud member of The Southern Collective Experience.
He also serves as an editor for The Blue Mountain
Review, Walking Is Still Honest Press, Novelmasters, and The Peregrine Muse.