Halo Equated


I promised all my sevens
to the pattern

now I’m caught in its prism
blink twice for fusion

spin in the grasp of spent coding

untangling live wires
in the storm

You told me every dog
still has its teeth
from the hunt

now I’m warm in the forest
fur wrapped with worn blankets

coil through the night of rebellion

enticing compressed visions
from crystal


 
What Roars Below


brewing

not quite a boil … yet

churning underneath
a sure explosion
biding its time

constructing a blueprint
to rise without aggression

violet flames
liquid consciousness

a compulsion toward creation
unbridled human expansion

the artistic urge

self-actualization/individuation
finding cohesion with the collective

sacred space of duality
breather of light discovered in shadow

cynicism turned on its head
affirmation

the great yes to it all
flow/flux

gestation turnkey
an opening of eyes



 
Aborted Escapism


I wasn’t in a rush to be born

&

I took my sweet ass time
to garner any wisdom after

but God knows I ran
straight toward the grave
for so damn long

and each time
you refused me
and sent me back
with deeper patience
and buried scars

but if I disappointed you
I will make it up to them

because if there’s one thing
I’ve ever been sold on
it’s promises

Scott Thomas Outlar is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. He now lives 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. He is the author of seven books, including Songs of a Dissident (2015), Abstract Visions of Light (2018), Of Sand and Sugar (2019), and Evermore (2021 – written with co-author Mihaela Melnic). Selections of his poetry have been translated and published in 14 languages. He has been a weekly contributor at Dissident Voice for the past eight and a half years. More about Outlar’s work can be found at 17Numa.com.