details, details –
to a fine point…

to implosion
pulling back
unto itself…

to entropy
exhausting
its last inhalation…

to a lapsing moment
as time expires
for evolution…

Angels with the voice
of midnight
bleed halo-shimmer songs
from out the shadows
of their dark tithe
spilling love
not riches
into the light

Demons with the curse
of doubt
filling their fallen minds
cry until they weep
wail and gnash their teeth
as golden light
becomes
their tomb

---

A poem prompt response for:

#MadVerse 421
#DSpoetry 277
#SpeakPoetry
#Magick_Words 147

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Issue 4 Part 2 of The Fat Damsel is now out. I’m thankful to have my poem “Steady in the Storm” included…a piece that originally appeared earlier this year at Dissident Voice. Every issue of The Fat Damsel so far has been well compiled by the various guest editors. Zelda Chappel was at the helm of Jane Burns’ ship in this particular case. I’ve been consistently impressed with the quality of work by all the contributors, and Trish Saunders’ poem in this edition is definitely the standout piece in my humble opinion.

Thank you to Marianne Szlyk at The Song is… for accepting two more of my poems. “Lung Capacity” and “Revelations in the Marrow” will be featured at her site later on in the year.

Thank you to Stephen Jarrell Williams for publishing my poem “Bigger Bang for the Buck” at his site Dead Snakes yesterday.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by to read my work here at 17numa. Anyone who would like to connect with me elsewhere can do so via Twitter and Facebook.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar

liquid plasma notes
plucked from the void
and wept unto creation
by steel strings
strumming along
humming the song
of heady, heavy hallucinations
exhalations of intoxication
happy hour hallelujah
morphing dead dreams
that lurk in silence
to scream their last rites
a ritual sacrifice
under the belching sun
it’s so much fun to melt
and taste the morphine drip
of honeysuckle venom
as it drains from the falling sky
cotton candy punctured clouds
spill out a paradise of carbonated acid pollution
ticking time bomb toward extinction
violent threats of burst ignition
scattered species duck and cover
leaking tsunami radiation poison
pouring through the ocean’s lungs
barrel of the gun wide open
no flower to stop the carnal trigger
floating lilies ride red bullets
toward a peaking wave of pressure
crescendo at the edge of reason
tempo rising through the fractured crystal
thirty-three visions of the final circle
spheres within spheres of flames
torn from the frayed fabric of time
twisting across the bleeding heavens
foundation quaking, shattered plates
flailing limbs structure the rhythm
of a cemetery dance unto the darkness
withered roses in the naked night
bloom with a final forced smile
a last gasp elegant exit
curtains collapse on the skeletal system
marrow flooding back to the firmament
molded clay, dust and ash, truth or dare
boil, boil, toil and trouble
with an ice that burns to the coldest core
razor sharp lessons lingering unlearned
remembering the raven, nevermore

---

A recorded version via audioBoom can be found at this link

#SpokenWord poem prompt response for:

#MadVerse 420
#FIERYVERSE
#SpeakPoetry

---

Thank you to Marianne Szlyk for accepting my poems “A Forest of One” and “Nothing Else” to appear at her site The Song is… in mid-September.

Thank you to Ian Chung at Eunoia Review for accepting my poem “God, Love, Truth, and Light” to appear in early November. “Taking Measure” was also published a few days ago at the site.

Issue 4 Part 1 of The Fat Damsel is now out. The first three issues have all been very strong, and what I’ve read so far in this edition has followed suit in that regard. Guest edited by Zelda Chappel, with words from Jane Burn and Allison Grayhurst, among others. My poem “Steady in the Storm” is included in Part 2 which will be coming out soon.

Time now for the old song and dance routine –

Anyone who would like to connect or get in touch with me can do so here at 17numa, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. I promise it’ll be fun. I don’t bite…much.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar

One touch
One taste
One kiss
One caress
One song
One dance
One laugh
One cry
One lust
One love
One hope
One faith
One truth
One peace
One flesh
One soul

One sip from your holy chalice
pours sweetly
into my hungry lips

One thrust of my fevered passion
comes hot
with the bliss of chaos

One moment
at the edge of entropy
takes us closer to the pulse of heaven

One knock
upon the pearly gates
illuminates the angelic halo

One God
One source
One womb
One grave
One night
One bed
One sex
One lay
One sun
One rise
One salve
One heal
One throne
One crown
One gasp
One thrill

---

Publication Updates:

My poem “Poisoned Dairy” came out yesterday at Mad Swirl. Thank you to editors Johnny R. Olson and Michael Clay for having me back at their venue. This is the fourth time I’ve had a piece published there. My archive can be seen here.

Thank you to Dai Shotter at Your One Phone Call for publishing my poem “In a Nutshell” today. This online zine’s motto is: Poetry with a knife edge! I often find myself checking out their daily feature, as the work is usually topnotch. I have another poem scheduled to come out here at the beginning of September.

Thank you to Matt Duggan and Simon Leake at The Angry Manifesto for accepting a poem of mine to appear in the upcoming print edition of issue 3.0.

Thank you to Tiffany Slotwinski of Viral Cat for accepting my poem “Here and There” to appear in the upcoming September issue.

Anyone who is still wrapped up in the two-party political paradigm of Team Red vs. Team Blue should read “The Great Purge” – My weekly poem that came out a couple of days ago at Dissident Voice. There is also a recorded reading of the piece that can be found at the link above.

---

Thank you to everyone who has been reading my words here at 17Numa of late. I’d encourage you to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook. Also, any follows, likes, comments, and shares here on the blog are greatly appreciated.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar

Prelude to a revolution
during this dark age interlude
since the last revelation
swept renaissance
through the hearts and minds
of a species
that was fed up
filled to the gills
flayed on the cross of ignorance
fried in a pan of splintered oil
by devious false idols
misbehaving
by masquerading
as royal gods
that were really
rotten
to the core
full of cancer
black maggot virus
a worm in the system
a lie in the core of the apple

So sick and tired
of fucking around with the shadows
in the fallen garden
of ivory and gold
Ready to ignite
a new dawn
as neurons dance
enflamed with the theory
of evolution’s enlightenment

A cosmic epiphany
sung from the celestial spheres
The holy orchestra
smashing sounds like atoms
spreading the rhythm
of synchronistic alignment
sending out symphonic notes as dust
to drift through
the pulsing plasma
of empty space
and be molded as clay
into higher forms of melodic ascension

We are all made of stars
with a glimmer and shine
that cannot be snuffed out
A tangerine shimmer
of liquid sunshine
Solar rays of source electricity
coursing as tidal waves
through a river of blood
enchanted by the very breath of life

A whisper, A word, A vibration, An ignition, An explosion

---

Recorded version can be listened to via this link on audioBoom

A #SpokenWord poem prompt response for:

#WhisperingNeds 13
#FIERYVERSE
#SpokenPoetry
#MadVerse 418
#VerseReversal 223

---

My poem “The Great Purge” came out yesterday at Dissident Voice. Many thanks, as always, to editor Angie Tibbs for continuing to include my work at the site.

– An excerpt from the piece –

Broccoli and cheese soup:

What was it Gandhi said?
“To change the world
one should enter into a booth
and cast a vote upon an electronic Diebold machine
that is controlled by the very fascist interests
who already have their puppets in place
throughout every corridor of public influence,
and who have already chosen behind closed doors
the candidates whose names are represented
on said rigged device.”

Breadsticks and butter:

No, wait, what that dude actually said
was much more simple.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

– The poem can be found at the link above, and while at the site I’d recommend checking out a fine poem by James Hoover that caught my eye earlier.

---

Yesterday was by far the best day of traffic this blog has seen since I began it six months ago. There were more views on the Links Page alone than there had been on all the pages combined on any other previous day. I’m very happy that readers and writers are using the page as a resource to check out the journals, magazines, blogs, and zines that are listed there. All the editors at the listed publications have been very kind toward my words this past year, and the page is my small way of saying thank you.

I also want to thank everyone who has been reading my work on the blog lately. I’d like to continue encouraging anyone who is so inclined to leave comments, critiques, compliments, curses of my name unto the abyss, or suggestions of any kind. I’m still in the season of planting seeds here at 17Numa, so feedback with possible improvements on how to better sow the fields is greatly appreciated.

OK, it’s now 2:17 A.M. – a truly mystical time, for reasons I’ll perhaps go into at some later date…the point now is…goodnight.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar

Tattered puppets
with twisted halos
fall hard
from lofty spaces
when the liar’s game
unravels
and dirty derivatives
spill out
to scatter upon
the floor of Wall Street

empty pockets
worthless paper

Light it up
in a fiat frenzy
as the rigged algorithms
of Ponzi scheme paradise
smog the sky with smoke

chasing the little birds
from their trees
as they seek fresher pastures

Those that once were green
now are all red
in a smoldering pile
of embers and ash

---

#SpokenWord poem prompt response for:

#MadVerse 417
#DrugVerse 63
#SpeakPoetry

Listen to a recorded reading here on audioBoom

---

Many thanks to Ian Chung at Eunoia Review for publishing my poem “Taking Measure” today. This piece originally appeared earlier in the year as part of the #finalpoem series at Enclave.

Thank you also to Robert Olson at Calliope Magazine for accepting my poem “Animal” for the upcoming one year anniversary October issue. Calliope was recently nominated for Magazine of the Year by the National Poetry Awards. Anyone that would like to cast a vote can do so by following this link to the simple form.

Lastly, thank you to Three Line Thursday for an honorable mention in the week thirty-nine micro poetry prompt contest. The rest of the results can be seen here.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar

Four right turns
have left us
in a circle
somehow

spinning wheels
against the tar
melted puddle
under the bleached sky

stripped of color –
black

and of direction –
lost

in the same place
where it all began
at birth

took a round trip
back to nowhere…

but Christ
the things we saw!
in our slow motion orbit around the sun
as it delivered
a sacrament of color and shape
with handfuls of crystal visions
serving as a ceremonial burn
in the flash point
of our pineals
sending every neuron signal
to high alert
screaming sirens
sing the warning signs
of enlightenment
crashing hard
through consciousness
flipping switches
hit ignition

and for a moment
we entered unto heaven
in the center of your kingdom
forgetting the soured wine
spoiled in the garden
forgetting the crushed sweetness
of the fallen chalice
forgetting we were flawed angels
but rather
for a brief moment
something far greater
cast of perfect gold
while reflected
in ascended light
so holy
in the spirit
of your
perfect sight
quieting all rage
of the heart
finally found
in the bliss
of infinite splendor

but of course
all such trips
are temporary
and we would be
in denial
to pretend
that our sublime shamanic vacation
would never end
for the karmic cycles
forever spin
shifting with the currents
of the flesh

We had our
glimpse
of God
but all good things
must eventually
come to a close

and there is still
so much more work
to be done here on earth

A little taste
of nirvana
as a tease
from on high
was just enough
to tempt us
toward the final truth
that the only way
we’ll ever stay
permanently
as One
in the Source
is if we first
bring about
the cessation
of All suffering
here in the duality
of this ride called life –

---

A Twitter-Verse Poem Prompt Response for:

#MadVerse 416
#WyldeVerse 40
#ashverse
#RavensVeil
#HomoAquarius

Little poisonous needles pierce flesh from the sky,
falling like diamond fangs of oblivion,
tearing into open wounds with venomous kisses,
spitting out the toxic waste in vomited waves.

Her love is a dark fire of death,
using lust as a wicked intoxication
to lure in tragic victims
before burying them beneath the cancer in her heart.

Salvation is a dirty word whispered from her lips,
blistering forth from a tongue of chaos
to coat the spirit of weary travelers
who have been sadly fooled by the siren’s song.

A devil in a temptress gown –
dancing atop the graves of her victims,
howling at the moon come midnight,
laughing madly as the maggots begin to roar.

Scalpel teeth enter the neck with pinpoint precision,
tearing deeply into broken veins,
sucking out the river of life,
polluting the well with eternal blackness.

A riptide fury with which she works
to weave her tangled web of lies,
calling out the next fat meal
to toy with in her clutches before biting.

The latest feast to fill her gorged guts –
acid burning to the core of dehydrated bones,
melting the marrow into a soup
before being slurped down her abysmal soul.

---

Sometimes I write love songs devoted to God and the magical wonderment of Creation. Sometimes I write dark, cancerous lullabies inspired by black widows. In the end, it’s all just fun and games. Mostly. There is, of course, always a larger agenda lingering…building up behind the curtains…waiting for the perfect moment to begin the show…

---

Two poems came out yesterday at Dead Snakes:

“Bread and Circus” and “A Sky of Thorns”

If you dig what you read here at the blog, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think; also, I’d love to connect with everyone on Facebook and Twitter.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar

You would think
that after passing the same person
while walking at the park
every single day for weeks on end,
nodding a polite hello to them each time
as a silent gesture of goodwill,
that sooner or later,
instead of staring right through you
with black orbs of death,
they might eventually nod back,
acknowledging the basic humanity
that the two of you share,
and proving once and for all,
beyond a shadow of a doubt,
that they are not some cold-blooded reptilian alien
from a far distant planet
sent to earth just to act like a smug jerk.
But, you know, whatever…
c’est la vie and all that jazz.

A recorded version of this poem can be found here 

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This poem is pretty self explanatory, me thinks. I know that some people have anxiety issues. I know that some people aren’t comfortable around other human beings. I know that some people like to get in the zone and live in their own little world. I know that eye contact scares the shit out of some people. But, you know, grow up…a nod is not going to kill ya. Jackass.

---

I had a nice little surprise early this morning in the from of an email that popped into my inbox from the journal Nazar Look which is based out of Constanta, Romania.

Apparently, I had sent a three poem submission to this venue back in February. I never received an acceptance or rejection letter, and honestly don’t even recall having sent the poems. So, it was interesting to receive a letter today containing a link to the newly released issue 44 of the journal in which my work has been included. The three poems can be found at this link, appearing on pages 64-65.

“Truth” originally appeared at Record-webzine last year, and later at Wilderness House Literary Review.

“The Way It Is” was just recently featured at Your One Phone Call, a venue out of Wales, where I have a couple more poems (“In a Nutshell” and “Insomnia”) that will be appearing in the next couple of weeks.

“Elusive” was first published at Dissident Voice, and also later appeared at Wilderness House Literary Review.

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If you enjoy what you read here then I’d like to encourage you to follow this blog, leave comments, share the posts, and check out more content on the other pages. There are links to all my published poetry, essays, and fiction, as well as links to well over 100 literary venues.

Also, feel free to connect with me by following these links to Facebook and Twitter.

Selah,

Scott Thomas Outlar