Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Five November-December 2024
Burn, Baby, Burn, poems by Scott Thomas Outlar.
Burn, Baby, Burn
Lay me down in the luminal fire
use the same thorn twice in both palms
Lick the salt from cavern walls
and eat the echo humming in my heart
Revelations are born in moments
of great understanding
though first gestated
and bathed in the flames of sorrow
Not by wit alone
nor beauty
nor arcane knowledge
nor street smart common sense
but by collage
and amalgamation
The thin whisp
of imagination
back in the air
like calm before an inferno
Original Jesters
The rupture of sound
breathed over a cosmos
Whispered vowels
and sigils given form
It came from the high realms
and swallowed us whole
Between dusk and dawn
one blink resets the system’s signal
Big beast known as Moby
gut bigger than Galactus
While pondering about equitable shares
the giants stomp a healthy portion
Skin and bones are given
old rags and cake crumb morsels
Lamentations of Job in the bloodbath
took a cut in the nosedive
It’s all zeroes on the silver screen
snakes of six eyes, seven glands stroked
The passing of fear in silence
changing guard after running gauntlet
Into abyss with pearls of sorrow
left to the waves with their infinite wisdom
Hush now, humans, don’t dare fret
the mockingbird smirks at all you’ve wept
Not in vain nor with vanity
dance the peacock garb back to fashion
© Scott Thomas Outlar
Scott Thomas Outlar originally hails from Atlanta, Georgia. He now resides and writes in Frederick, Maryland. His work has been nominated multiple times for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He guest-edited the Hope Anthology of Poetry from CultureCult Press as well as the 2019-2023 Western Voices editions of Setu Mag. Selections of his poetry have been translated and published in 15 languages. He has been a weekly contributor at Dissident Voice for the past 10 years. More about Outlar’s work can be found at 17Numa.com.