Author: 17numa

Two Poems…etc.

~ 17numa ~ 2 Comments
Tao Division
 
There is more truth in every lie than we’d care to admit
 
Everything in this world is 87% unleaded bullshit
 
Everything is also Absolute Veritas
 
100 miles per hour
 
 
K-Y
 
A leads to B,
and C is a Castle
in the Distance
beyond all Equations
that’s going to get Fucked
with Gasoline
before Hell Ignites…
and further Jazz
will bring us Kicks
all the way to Z.
 
 
A sudden urge…to purge. The first poem was written moments ago with Midnight intentions. The second was born last month in early February. Those are the facts. For all they’re worth. Sold to the highest bidder. Stolen back come the hour of dawn.
Three of my poems came out this week at Dead Snakes. It’s always a pleasure to appear at Stephen Jarrell Williams’ site. He posts a tremendous amount of good poetry there month after month. That takes time and energy. It’s much appreciated.
 
Issue 11 of Five 2 One Magazine came out recently. Many thanks to Nathan Alan Schwartz for putting together a great collection of words from Heath Brougher, Matt Duggan, Alan Britt, Dustin Pickering, and a host of other dope writers. My poem “A Little Spot to Call One’s Own” is also included.
 
Thank you as well to R.L. Black for publishing “Seven Horns” in the new March/April issue of Unbroken Journal. Very cool to have work appear in this edition alongside that of Sarah Frances Moran…she is a hell of a good poet.
 
February was a blast. But there’s no time to stop and reminisce. As we all know, it’s a constant forward March into the future…
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar

Futurist Spring…The Blue Mountain Review…Kingdom of Chaos

~ 17numa ~ Leave a comment
Welcome to the blackout
lovely quiet in the dead space
Entropy has awakened
to bring us back in line with cold chill
 
Welcome to the gene swarm
single celled and pushing forward
Evolution has a life urge
flood the past with bombs and start anew
 
Welcome to the feast
King Ape up against the lion
Only one can rule the roost here
bet the farm that thumbs will win
 
Welcome to the crystal
diamond coded in the hardware
Plugging in to seal the merger
future born of flesh and wires
 
“Futurist Spring” originally appeared at Snapping Twig
 
It’s been a couple of weeks since I hammered out a post here at 17Numa so I thought I’d break out the nails early this morning and get back to work. All I need now is a cross and a bit of righteous indignation. No, wait, never mind, forget I said that. We’re all friends here. No need to stir up unnecessary trouble with that type of terrible gibberish.
 
There have been some exciting new publications recently to announce. The Southern Collective Experience put out issue 2 of The Blue Mountain Review last week. This edition is chock full of great poetry, prose, photographs, essays, and interviews from the likes of Cliff Brooks, Dan Veach, William Wright, Nancy Davenport, Genesis the Greykid, Michelle Roberts, Dee Thompson, Felino A. Soriano, and a host of other talented writers and artists. My two poems “Screaming with the Tide” and “Just Add Water” are also included.
 
I was awarded poem of the month for February at Nibstears with my piece “Kingdom of Chaos”. Thank you to the editors Akinwemimo Idris and Awwal Karrem for the honor, as well as to the other two top finalists, Awoniyi Olajide and Tola Ijalusi.
 
My poem “Steady in the Storm” has been the featured poem for the month of February at The Peregrine Muse. It will remain up on the homepage until March rolls around, but at that point it can still be read on my personal page at the site along with seven other poems. I’ve also begun helping out as an editor this year at The Peregrine Muse, and I posted a page earlier this week featuring the work of Phillip Matthew Roberts that I’d highly recommend checking out.
 
Janine Pickett at Indiana Voice Journal contacted me earlier this month and asked if I would like to contribute to a special issue she was putting together dedicated to the artwork of an emerging artist from Cape Town, South Africa, Shameeg van Schalkwyk. I’m always honored to have words appear at IVJ, and so I walked up to my favorite spot in the woods to write two ekphrastic poems in response to Shameeg’s work. The issue also includes poetry from Janine herself, my good friend Don Beukes, and several other writers.
 
Roxana Nastase at Scarlet Leaf Review included four of my poems at her site this month. Anyone who has the time to visit the page and give it a like and/or leave a comment would be doing me a favor because there is some sort of contest going on which involves such analytics. Winning is always fun. I’m just saying…
 
My friend Patrick Jordan who hosts the Facebook group Notes from the Edge published a nice handbound chapbook recently featuring the work of selected members. My contributor’s copy showed up in the mail not too long ago. I’m very appreciative of all the time, energy, and resources Patrick put into the project.
 
Links to other February publications can be found on the Poems Page located at the top of the site.
 
In other news, I’m continuing to work on the final edit of my full-length collection “Happy Hour Hallelujah” which will be out later this year through CTU Publishing. And, finally, this post wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory mention of my chapbook “Songs of a Dissident” which was released this past December through Transcendent Zero Press. If there is anyone who would like to order a copy, well, hot damn!, you’re in luck because it is now available at Amazon via this link. Any and all support of my work is greatly appreciated. If you’ve already ordered a copy, thank you. I promise from the bottom of my heart that I’m working to make this happen. As I often like to say, things are just getting started…
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar
 
 
1:22
 
Poetry is about connecting
the macro
with the micro
 
That’s all it is
 
The End

Interview (Originally appeared at Profiles in Poetry)

~ 17numa ~ 3 Comments
In October of 2015 I was asked by JD DeHart to give an interview for his site Profiles in Poetry. The site has since gone into a state of limbo, and I’m unsure whether or not it will be going back live at any point, so I thought it would make sense to republish our conversation here at 17Numa…
What drives you to write?
 
A source of (infinite and eternal) energy at my core that (constantly) seeks release. A desire to have my words appear in front of other sentient human beings’ eyes (androids and clones are cool, too). A belief that what I have to offer might be received well by my fellow writers and artists, and possibly even the wider general public (though I don’t hold my breath). An aching concern deep in the marrow of my bones that knows all too well that the institutions of this world (economic, educational, religious, military, governmental) have reached such epic levels of decadence and corruption that things are now far beyond the pale, and so such principalities of power must be pointed out, stood up to, and fought against with the mighty pen (so that the sword does not become necessary [though it’s nearly too late for that, I fear]).
 
I write to open portals and pathways which lead to God, Peace, Love, and Truth. I write to stir the politically correct pot and to provoke those people who don’t like such holy ideas and emotions. I write because there is just a hint of narcissism coursing through my veins that wants to bleed out upon the world with its righteous stain. I write because I threw all my cards on the table many a moon ago, and so the only option that I’ve left open is to keep doubling down on the bet by using blue and black ink to try and win this hand that I’ve been dealt. I write because I continue to believe (against all better judgment) that the words which splash upon the page are eventually going to lead me to the fifth ace that I’ve been searching after all my life.
 
 
How did you get started?
 
In a certain sense I suppose writing is in my blood. My Grandfather was a sports writer and editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for thirty years, retiring while I was still a young boy. I was an athlete who played baseball through high school (back in another life) because that is where my passion was, but when my heart turned cold to such pursuits an empty chest was left with a void which needed to be filled. It took a number of years to figure out what to do next with my life. Once I began keeping a daily journal and my writing style started to emerge, I knew I’d stumbled upon the one true path which I was destined for.
 
I kept hammering away at the notepad for the better part of the next decade, a hermit holed up in my home, putting in the hours and pouring forth the words that I now look back on as being stepping stones to bring me to this very point. It’s been a little over a year since I started seriously sending out my work and treating the writing process with the sense of decency and professionalism which it deserves. All that being said, I fully understand that there is still more to learn in this lifetime than I’ll ever be able to cram into this (sometimes stubborn) head. But I’m cool with all that because I have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and I dig every step of the journey along this path toward wherever/whatever, however it may come.
 
 
Who are the best poets around right now?
 
Ye gods! There are so many I could rattle off, but I’m always weary about creating lists because I worry that I might offend someone by not including them. But I’ll summon forth a bit of courage and start off by saying this: there is a Blogs Page at my site 17Numa where I’ve taken the time to link websites, blogs, and archives of work to the names of around 100 contemporary writers and artists, so I’d definitely recommend checking it out. If there is anyone you know of and think should be added to the page, please feel free to get in touch and let me know.
 
Some of the more prolific poets on the scene that I dig these days are Sarah Frances Moran, A.J. Huffman, Felino A. Soriano, Allison Grayhurst, Steve Klepetar, and Laura M. Kaminski. One of the wonderful aspects of social media that I’ve discovered since hardwiring myself into the Beast System earlier this year is being able to connect with writers from across the world…with that in mind, I’ve been turned on recently to the work of Indian poets such as Chumki Sharma, Kushal Poddar, and Ananya S. Guha. A few other poets I’d recommend at the moment are Don Beukes, Heath Brougher, and Phillip Matthew Roberts.
 
 
Where are the best places to publish?
 
Thankfully, there is no shortage of online and print journals available to submit work to these days. There is a true underground Renaissance of poetry bubbling up beneath the surface of the haughty institutionalized snobbery of academia in the form of independent, small press literary publishers….and I, for one, LOVE IT!
 
Some of my highly recommended venues are The Blue Mountain Review, Harbinger Asylum, Yellow Chair Review, Section 8 Magazine, Tuck Magazine, and Dead Snakes. At the risk of sounding too self-serving, I’ll make one more plug for 17Numa here because the Links Page at the site has a list of over 200 journals, magazines, lit blogs, and zines that some readers/writers might find valuable as a resource.
 
 
What are you reading right now?
 
A poet whose work I greatly admire, Alan Britt, was kind enough to send me a couple of his books recently, and so I’m currently in the middle of “Alone with the Terrible Universe” with “Lost Among the Hours” waiting in the wings. I was also humbled and honored the other day by Charles Clifford Brooks III who sent me a final draft of his forthcoming second book “Athena Departs.” I’m digging the quick-paced, poignant, precise style of the poems so far and definitely encourage everyone to keep an eye out for when this fine piece of art hits stores sometime in the near future. Other than that, copies of anything written by Nietzsche, Hunter S. Thompson, and Henry Miller are never too far out of reach…and, of course, The Book of Revelation is always kept near at hand.
 
 
What advice would you give to other writers?
 
Believe in yourself. Enjoy what you do. Put passion into every word you write. Take one step at a time. Be able to accept good criticism with an open mind. Be able to laugh off poor critiques with mad howling laughter. Understand that rejection is an important part of the publishing process. Read other writers…constantly. Support your peers. Take time to research the venues where you send your work. Follow submission guidelines. Maintain a healthy balance between humility and confidence. Focus on the present moment while keeping future goals in sight. Trust your own unique voice. Trust the wellspring of truth from which your words flow forth. Steady as she goes. Flow and flux with the ever changing currents of the Tao River. Smile. Laugh. Burn hot.

Covering the Gamut…January Recap

~ 17numa ~ Leave a comment
Covering the Gamut
 
Poems about this –
Poems about that –
Poems, of course, about the other –
Poems about angels –
Poems about demons –
Poems about fire and brimstone –
Poems about pillars of salt –
Poems that burrow their way into your mind
where they chisel themselves upon neuron stones
to eternalize the scripture in an ecstatic flash dance –
Poems about black tar cancer –
Poems about honey maple molasses –
Poems about righteousness –
Poems about revolution –
Poems about renaissance –
Poems about the Phoenix –
Poems about the New Age
as Aquarius cycles through the spheres of heaven
with a wellspring of water
for those who have an insatiable thirst for knowledge –
Poems about Pisces in transit
as all the flayed fish
starve on the surface of earth –
Poems about gasping gills –
Poems about collapsing lungs –
Poems about Empire and its prophesied collapse –
Poems about lemmings that march
to the orders barked by dogs of war –
Poems about nuclear annihilation –
Poems about stardust and flaking ash –
Poems about entropy and evolution –
Poems about love and romance –
Poems about the yawning grave –
Poems about this –
Poems about that –
Poems, of course, about the other –
 
– This piece originally appeared at Dissident Voice where I am a weekly contributor to the Sunday Poetry Page. It was written around half a year ago after I’d attended a relative’s funeral. I was sitting outside the church atop a tall brick wall, smoking a cigarette, contemplating all the usual sorts of things that tend to scurry around inside my head.
OK, I meant to get a January recap posted earlier in the week, but, hey, sometimes it’s best to hold off until the mood is right instead of trying to force something.
 
Going into the New Year my plan was to cut back on the amount of submissions sent out to journals, and to concentrate my attention primarily on sending out chapbook and full-length manuscripts for consideration. I did slow my roll considerably, though I wound up still having over 50 poems published in January.
 
Some of the highlights from the past month included an interview that I did back in September of last year with Geosi Gyasi that found its way into the light of day at his site Geosi Reads.
 
I was excited to start helping out as an editor in January at both Walking Is Still Honest Press and The Peregrine Muse. It’s been a good learning experience so far working with the different platforms of these sites, and I look forward to getting even more involved as time goes on.
 
The high-water mark so far this year was the contract that I signed with Creative Talents Unleashed for my full-length poetry collection “Happy Hour Hallelujah” which will be released later in 2016. I’m in the process at the moment of doing a read through on the final draft sent over from Raja Williams at CTU to make sure there aren’t any subtle shifts of rhythm that need to be made. Of course, there could also be a typo hidden in there somewhere that I missed. I would like to think such a thing impossible, but it has been known to happen.
 
I’d like to say a big thank you to all the editors associated with these twenty-nine venues for accepting and/or publishing my work in January:
 
Unbroken Journal; Poems and Poetry; Dissident Voice; Dead Snakes; UFO Gigolo; Cavalcade of Stars; Poets International; Dark Matter Journal; Your One Phone Call; Duane’s PoeTree; High Coupe; Visual Verse; Eunoia Review; The Literary Nest; Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine; Inwood Indiana; Green Panda Press; Creative Talents Unleashed; Yellow Chair Review; Napalm and Novocain; Asian Signature; Fauna Quarterly; Tuck Magazine; Geosi Reads; Anti-Heroin Chic; Scarlet Leaf Review; The Poeming Pigeon; Pittsburgh Poetry Houses; and Slim Volume.
 
I’ve had poems come out in six venues so far in February, including a second place finish in Cultured Vultures’ weekly contest. Links to recent work, along with all my past online publications, can be found on the Poems Page here at 17Numa.
 
Finally, I’d be remiss not to also mention that my chapbook “Songs of a Dissident” was released back in December through Transcendent Zero Press. Having said that, I’d be a fool not to let everyone know that it is available on Amazon. If you have already ordered a copy, or if you decide to pick up one right this very moment, I offer a sincere thank you. For real. It means a lot.
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar

Issue Two: Scott Thomas Outlar

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Cheers and thank you to Claudia Downs for publishing my poem “Sweet Explosion” in the second issue of Fauna Quarterly…

faunaquarterly's avatarFauna Quarterly

Sweet Explosion

Her veins are spiked with chlorella

aqua seafoam blue-green algae

with a drip of phytoplankton

pumping from the pores of velvet antler

Her eyes are carrot juice lasers

candy cucumber lids of alkaline salt

seeping in where the violet aura

surges with a fury of synchronistic flash

Her smile is a pearly white paradise

coated in celery crunch gene therapy

keeping calcification at bay

while smooth ships sail nearer to shore

Her tongue is laced in ghost pepper fetish

sweating out the lust of combustive flesh

sending shivers down the spine of kundalini

in white ignition pulse of pineapple explosion

Scott Thomas Outlar hosts the site 17Numa.wordpress.com where links to his published poetry and fiction can be found. His words have appeared recently in venues such as Straight Forward Poetry, The Peregrine Muse, Yellow Chair Review, and Creative Talents Unleashed. Scott’s chapbook “Songs of a Dissident” was released…

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Sweet Explosive Sunshine Song

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Naked Dreams
 
Crimson nightmares
stain the neurons
of my inner eye
and I can sense
the emerging last refrain
as lust begins to sing
a twisted lullaby
of a dying passion
collapsing beneath the waves
we once stirred up
between these sheets
 
The carnage of the vision
is more than I can bear
but I keep
my peepers closed
for I know
all too well
that the truth
will be even worse
upon the wake
Yes, well, uh, you see, that is, like, you know?
 
The best thing that ever happened to me was when I detached from…everything (almost). Numbness is a virtue that cannot be snuffed out easily (if at all). It affords a shield for which there is no penetrable weapon (except love, which I’ll have none of at the moment). Thank you very much. I’ll be here all week…all month…all year…until the fire claims these bones…until ash becomes my name.
 
For anyone who doesn’t yet know this about me: I consider life to be a war. I’ve drawn my lines in the sand. I’m also very considerate in my basic communication skills, so perhaps the full intensity of my intentions doesn’t always come across. Of course, most of the people I deal with are friends and allies, so that helps. Trust me, with time, the scope will expand as everything becomes quite clear. After all, the game has only just begun.
 
On a lighter note, here are links to a few of the past week’s publications:
 
Sweet Explosion – Fauna Quarterly
Acidic Cycles/Meltdown Fever – Dissident Voice
To the Fascist Fundamentalist Editor – Yellow Chair Review
Oblivion on Display – Creative Talents Unleashed
Sunshine Song – Whispers
 
If you dig my work, you can help support my continued efforts by ordering a copy of “Songs of a Dissident” on Amazon. You can read more about the chapbook, which was released last month, in this interview I did recently with Angie Tibbs of Dissident Voice.
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar

Happy Hour Hallelujah…New Interview…War Stories

~ 17numa ~ 2 Comments
Each and Every Breath
 
Every breath
is pure bliss –
an inhalation
of cosmic debris
sent from the source
to coat the lungs
with vibrations of light.
 
Every new dawn
is a miracle –
sunburnt radiation
pulsing from the sky
to singe the flesh
with encoded DNA
from ethereal realms.
 
Every touch
is electric –
skin kissed
by God’s presence
in a holy union
of enlightenment
accelerated through the soul.
 
Every whisper
is a song –
celestial sirens
humming the frequency
of heaven’s tune
with fiery chorus
from the lips of angels.
“Each and Every Breath” is a piece that was originally published in the November 2015 issue of Indiana Voice Journal. It made the shortlist for their Pushcart Prize nominations, but didn’t quite make the final cut. These things happen. It is also included in my forthcoming full-length poetry collection “Happy Hour Hallelujah” which is set to be released later this year.
 
I’m thrilled to announce that I signed the contract with Creative Talents Unleashed a few days ago to get the ball rolling on this project. The poetry collection originally started off as a chapbook that placed as a semifinalist in one contest, and then caught the eye of Raja Williams in another contest at CTU. Raja requested that I expand the chapbook into a full-length work and send it back for further consideration. I did just such a thing, and, thankfully, it was warmly accepted for publication. The next step is to find the perfect cover. I fully trust in the Tao process. In fact, I have an image in my mind’s eye…floating down a river…staring at the rising sun…
 
I was asked by Geosi Gyasi back in September of last year to give an interview for his site Geosi Reads where he has been regularly publishing his conversations with writers since 2010. I was never given a set date back at that time on when the interview would be released, so I just filed it away upstairs and went about my daily business the same as I always do, assuming that it would eventually be published….and now it has because yesterday it was. Geosi and I discussed my first chapbook “A Black Wave Cometh” which was published by Dink Press in April of 2015. The book was available in a digital version on Etsy up until recently, and should soon be available again by ordering directly at the publisher’s site. There were originally plans to do a limited print run which is part of the reason I decided to go with Dink Press to begin with. Hopefully such plans are also soon to bear fruition. But I digress. The interview with Geosi also covers my latest chapbook “Songs of a Dissident” which was released last month through Transcendent Zero Press. There is no uncertainty about the status of this book. It is brutal, it is raw, it is a carrion call for evolution, and it is available at this very moment via Amazon. We discuss a number of other topics as well, including my writing process, my literary influences, and what my aspirations are as a poet. Just read the tagline at the top of this site to figure out the answer to that last question. I’ve never been shy when it comes to spouting off about the Renaissance. Please visit Geosi’s site and check out the interview by following this link.
 
OK. What next? January has basically been a continuation of last year. I write. I type. I edit. I send out submissions. I correspond with editors. I make plans with friends. I network. I put together new books. I promote venues I believe in. I strengthen connections with allies. I weed out enemies. I move, one step at a time, toward the ultimate goal.
 
33 of my poems have appeared in 17 different publications thus far this month. All the links can be found by clicking on the Poems tab here at 17Numa, but these are a few of the most recent:
 
Sunshine Song – Whispers
Satiating Urges – Inwod Indiana
Kingdom of Chaos – Dissident Voice
Light Switch – High Coupe
 
I say often that I love to connect with new people. Why do I say such a thing? Because it’s true. Feel free to hit me up on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll have a blast…I promise.
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar

Dancing Where My Plot Will Lie

~ 17numa ~ 4 Comments

Cheers and thank you to Ian Chung for including my poem “Dancing Where My Plot Will Lie” at his great site Eunoia Review recently…

perfectsublimemasters's avatarEunoia Review

Sunshine and cigarette smoke
amalgamate
a new wave algorithm
that sums up the random equation
of divided light that pulses
through my bloody lungs

Each puff from the source
counterbalances the wellspring of life
with a dancing shutter step
toward the eventual yawning grave

I won’t hesitate
in the violent moves made
against this flesh and bone
because ash to ash
is the condition that my sights
have been set on all along
and I came here
to roam across this firmament
not only to stay warm
but to have a little fun
and get my kicks
while playing out the process

Nicotine is a laser bullet
howling through the lit up sky
to dangle as the ripest fruit
that kisses the apple of my blackened eye
and so I won’t cry
nor shed a sad lament
when the dust to dust
does what it must
while singing the last…

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Signing Off

~ 17numa ~ 4 Comments
I’ve come to the conclusion
that the front porch
only offers
a couple hundred poems
worth of inspiration
before it’s time to move on
to a different location
for a fresh dose
of creative explosion
through every synapses
 
I wouldn’t complain
except for the fact
that I happen to be
sitting in such a spot
right now with this pen
bleeding out on the page
so I guess I’ll have to squeeze
one more ounce of ink
before the well runs dry
 
One more line to go
One more word to vomit
One more last goodbye
One more death to suffer
One more war to rage
One more kiss of cancer
One more salute to the sun
One more puff on the cigarette
One more laugh at the absurdity of it all
One more deep breath of fresh air
One more chance to say I love you
One more step toward somewhere new…
It’s all fairly damn simple as far as I’m concerned.
 
Love that which is Good with a violent passion, and hate that which is Evil with an equal fervor.
 
To my family and friends:
I am loyalty incarnate.
 
To my enemies:
You will rue the day God placed you upon my path.
 
That is not a threat. I’m not playing Mr. Tough Guy. I can tell who’s who and what’s what…that’s why almost all of us get along oh so well. We’re on the level, baby. Thank God, Almighty…there’s a Happy Hour Hallelujah on the rise…
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar
 
P.S.
 
I said it was simple, but then I went heavy. It happens. Here’s something low key and straight forward: I love to connect with new people, so feel free to hit me up on Facebook and Twitter. hello, hello, hello, hello…and, oh, I also started a page here yesterday.

New Year’s Eve 2015

~ 17numa ~ 2 Comments
One day left
to bolster stats
in what has been
so far
the high point
of my
publishing efforts
 
One day now
to capture truth
from webs of silk
laced skin
the deep sigh
of her
Hollywood daydreams
 
One midnight kiss
goodbye
 
One dance that lasts
forever
…
or at least
one more
spin
around the sun

Stoked to have had work released in four publications so far this week. My Sunday piece at Dissident Voice; a poem at Horror Sleaze Trash written last December which is shot through with absolute belligerence; a poem at Little Eagle’s RE / VERSE which previously appeared at DV, Wilderness House Literary Review, and The Peregrine Muse; and a poem at Mad Swirl which can be found, along with the others, by checking out the links below…

The Tab – Mad Swirl

Elusive – Little Eagle’s RE / VERSE

Last Dance – Horror Sleaze Trash

A Cross of Brokenness and Suffering – Dissident Voice

Sometimes we make things much more difficult than they need to be when really it is all so simple.
 
Eat, drink, and be merry, sure…but also work until exhaustion.
 
I can see the future now…dancing the night away…drifting off to dream…and waking to catch the vision…
 
Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar