It is my pleasure to present to you, The Poet Scott Thomas Outlar
Dear Scott, thank you for being so patient my friend. You are a dear warrior and messenger explaining the deepest part of our hearts and our lives. I present to you Natswritings readers three more poems from Scott Thomas Outlar, proud to call him my friend.
Sweet Salvation Beautiful Poem ~ Natalie
Comes the Budding
Four Chamber Massage
Tea Leaves and Upturned Tables
About the Author:
Scott Thomas Outlar resides in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, Georgia where he spends the hours flowing and fluxing with the ever-changing currents of the Tao River while laughing at and/or weeping over life’s existential nature. He hosts the site
His poem “Poetic Points” was nominated for Best of the Net by The Mind[less] Muse in 2015. He recently received three Pushcart Prize nominations for his work in 2016, from Transcendent Zero Press, Spirit Fire Review, and CTU Publishing.
Scott is a member of The Southern Collective Experience, a group whose shared love of the arts spills over into the work they produce in their quarterly journal, The Blue Mountain Review. The SCE broadcasts a radio show, Dante’s Old South, through NPR/WUTC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Scott also serves as an editor for Walking Is Still Honest Press, The Peregrine Muse, and Novelmasters.
His debut chapbook, Songs of a Dissident, received strong reviews in venues such as Asian Signature, Section 8 Magazine, Tuck Magazine, Indiana Voice Journal, and Ragazine. Links to all these reviews can be found here.
His latest full-length poetry collection, Happy Hour Hallelujah, was released in 2016 and is available here through CTU Publishing.
The seams of this plastic earth
will melt apart like cotton candy sugar
under a wax sun
when it’s time for the Big Shift
to take the old guard
under the parting sea to meet
the wrecked remains of Atlantis.
Version 2.0 hasn’t been a big hit
up here in the Kingdom
of a lackluster Empire
where rabid dogs bark orders
to mutts that march in lockstep
to the drumbeat of war
despite hazardous health conditions
and a lack of benefits
in the retirement package.
Compassion is a curse word
in the red zone,
and empathy is a silent scream –
raging loud but signifying nothing –
when apathy plays the role of just one more
trigger warning for the eternally brokenhearted
who weep like their own personal martyrs
upon any cross they happen to find
out in the blistering blitzkrieg desert heat
where they hop aboard and hang
until everyone in a thirty-three mile radius
comes along to boohoo with them
in some sort of cursed ceremony of the damned.
It’s a bullshit paradise
of make believe cognitive dissonance
where all the lemmings leap
right off the ledge
once ordered to do so
by the wolves who dress up
in sheepskin lingerie
when they are full of wicked intentions
to fuck over the competition
in a dog eat dog
fight to the death
where the winner receives a bloody biscuit
processed in a slave shop factory
across the dead black sea
where suicide nets hang heavy
to catch those who are too weary
to continue bleeding their veins
day after day for a corporate monster
that pretends to be a master
while hiding behind ornamented curtains
like some powerful occult wizard
who slings feces in the face
of all the rational non-believers.
There are cracks in the system.
There are liars living in the tower.
There are no codes of regulation.
There is wormwood in the liver.
There is cancer in the brain.
But there is one hell of a big flood
heading this way to reduce the skyscraper utopia
to rubble and ash as the End of Days
makes its triumphant third-act splash
on the scene with a director’s cut finale
sure to wipe the shit smug grins
off the face of all the bad apple actors
who have been pulling the strings
on a kabuki theater production
that’s destined to meet the maker soon
and pay for all the sins
that have tipped the karmic scales
to the point of no turning back.
Dust to dust for dry flaking bones
that lack the proper mineral composition
for long term survival
as they wind up face down in the gutter
where an open yawning grave
cuts its teeth and fills its belly
with a final decadent feast
upon the flesh of a fading disease
before entropy vomits forth the apocalypse
into a belching black hole of dissolution
and cancels out the credits,
as if anyone still gives a shit
after the final curtain drops.
Poem Sweet Salvation by Scott Thomas Outlar
Grass stains in my mind
where I tripped through your thoughts
for a flash, for an instant,
for a moment
captured (click-click) in time.
Big hope on the wire
where birds balance their souls
with a feather, with a fire,
with a heart
fluttering (kiss-kiss) across the scales.
Rain drops through the sky
where the winter takes aim
with a shiver, with a shake,
with a dose
melting (drip-drip) on wet tongues.
War hawks on the rise
where the old gods have fallen
for a ruse, for a hoax,
for a hope
cutting (snip-snip) through illusions.
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 received nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Scott serves as an editor for The Blue Mountain Review, Walking Is Still Honest Press, The Peregrine Muse, and Novelmasters.
Ultimately, Happy Hour Hallelujah is a proclamation and celebration of life even while staring the suffering of existence squarely in the eyes. It is an affirmation of the Great Yes that art defiantly screams in the face of entropy’s existential core. It is a truth that seeks to puncture through deception. It is a fire that yearns to rise from out the ashes. It is the next step forward when all momentum seems to be at a standstill. It is a light piercing through the darkness. It is nothing more and nothing less than the expression of one man’s vision toward the future….
Now Available At: www.ctupublishinggroup.com/scott-thomas-outlar-.html
Thank you for reading at Natwritings.com Have a wonderful day. ~ Natalie
Hi Natalie
Can I share your great blog on my site for writers? In here http://webfootedness.com/writing%20tools.htm
Thanks.
glenda
Absolutely, if it’s to inspire and teach the more the merrier the better. I enjoy teaching the young, inspiring them and especially building their confidence. So many of young millennials lack the confidence. But I wasn’t any different from them when I was their age. All they have to do is work hard, laser focus and they’ll surpass their own expectations. There isn’t a human being who isn’t talented, smart and capable. I concentrate on inspiring them artistically. Please let me know how you are doing? I enjoy conversation with my readers a great deal. Thank you for reading and asking Glenda. Have a superb evening. As I always try. Always ~ Natalie