Of Godhead and Gravestones

Rip the words from my tongue
before they find form

seven x seven x light
the specks of our eyes

even the swine
bathe now in pearls

even the cursed
catch their own fish

I swim in the gasp of your waves
last lungs on earth

river x ocean x fire
everything is always ending

everything is always burning

everything is always birthing
anon

Apples & Owls at Midnight (part 6)

I’d sing to my oranges
                       (& mandarins, too/
                                  so cute [ah])

     at the airport
             (in stereo)(or hi-fi)
         as the speakers
                        from the ceiling (swirl w/sirens)
      warn of terror (ring, ring, ring) & human trafficking
                          (& goblins & ghosts & trolls
                                                [oh my])

and watch
        all the people
   flock toward the water
                at $10 a bottle (per pop
                                             goes the weasel)
           after security scoundrels
                    pilfer the treasure
                           @ TSA-A®E-US(A)
                                        & promise it’s for
                           our own greater good (God what a sell/snow job
                                          [so bye-bye freedom/farewell happy hour/
                                    it’s all a
                    fall {slow drip/methodical} out
                                           syndrome *shakedown* sent from the state
                               of an empire’s <final> collapse])

I’d sit in the corner
       (w/eyes wide open
                 & ears tuned [half in] out
     to the manufactured crisis)
                         & whisper (the likely %
                   of sugar) sweet
                         nothings (everything
                            is [probably not] going to be
                                         fine)

Scott Thomas Outlar lives and writes in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, Georgia. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He was a recipient of the 2017 Setu Mag Award for Excellence in the field of literature. Selections of his poetry have been translated into Afrikaans, Albanian, Dutch, Farsi, French, Italian, Kurdish, and Serbian. His podcast, Songs of Selah, airs weekly on 17Numa Radio. More about Outlar’s work can be found at 17Numa.com.