Lots of Luck and Other Poems

By Scott Thomas Outlar

Lots of Luck

Eternal optimism 
with a subtle note
of sorrow

Obsession with smiling
while fans spin chaotic

Leaves flung
to the far side
of autumn

Keep chasing that wish
back to soil

(here is a kiss for all of your fault lines
here is a bite for your perfect mistakes)

Dance on cue in heavy traffic to grungy cuts
bless me with courage in the silence between crashes

I would beg
for one more
synchronistic flash
of assurance
to escape
from the groaning sky

or a sign
that gods are laughing
heartily
behind the scenes
with each
toss of the dice

Scattered Ages

Snapshots of mood & emotion

The mouth of death
and its inevitable yawn

Plagues throughout time
our emergent rise from the muck & mud

My ancestors didn’t starve in the cold
before passing on their swagger

and neither should I
succumb to a sin not my own

nor suffer the karma
that’s been cleansed from my soul

I caught 18 falling leaves this autumn
each one blessed with a wish still to make

Every yesterday failed to dig my grave
tomorrow remains a promise of the wind

Of Hymns and Hums

I’ll breathe if you will
gasp between notes
of shadow and shade

Good morning, soft smile
great consequence
in the space
where anger and love
both swallow the tail
we’ve been chasing

Zero-point graduation
hallelujah-induced hallucinations

They seeded the skies
with prayers of smoke
and chimera poisons

Magnetic tongues
wet

spark
Electric hymns

Messy with the way
we hum
our promises

but well-tuned 
to the bed
of salvation

Step Softly

cradle cracked shells
with proper reverence
and remove the remaining
splinters from your soles

it’s a spoiled sort of omelet
raining on our brunch parade

all the elephants are in town
with skeptic eyes
and memories that stretch
back before the chicken hatched

the kitchen is in shambles
with cabinets as bare
as unfertilized wombs

but the factory is packed full
though dull in cramped quarters

we sing our lament to the slaughter

Of Sovereign Hearts and Rebellious Paths

There’s always just enough
even after
the final scraps

have been devoured

the energy of life
continues through digestion

Squirrels digging holes
to horde for winter

Hermits walking trails
trying to forget

all the dust kicked up
as cloaks are shaken

no longer to appease
the tyrant’s will

cake laid in the streets
and beggar’s choosing

glory of freedom fields
in place of boots

Scott Thomas Outlar is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 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.