Scott Thomas Outlar hosts the site 17Numa.wordpress.com where links to his published poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, reviews, and books can be found. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Scott serves as an editor for The Peregrine Muse and Novelmasters. He has been a weekly contributor at the Dissident Voice Sunday Poetry Page for the past three years.

If Ever There Were an Idol

Morphine drips
as a deep breath from God
to numb away your suffering
though sorrow remains

Tip of the tongue
spread from the lungs
laced through the blood
heavy on the liver
where black cells
metastasize

Deep in the mind
memories arise
of unconditional love
then
now
and forever
after

Everything good
I’ve learned in this life
came by observing your actions
from the very beginning

Modeling my steps
on those you took
though mine still fall short
at…