I wouldn’t dare
call myself a poet
or an artist/or a warrior
or a fighter/or a servant/or a stoic
or a fool
I’m just a hermit and a vagabond
going within so I can wander
but these pines work well as bones
sturdy long enough to carry the hour
and all this dirt will eventually receive
the same returns of what once was offered
profit every whisper of groaning breath
pilfer specks of sand from six scratched eyes
protect the black of my lungs/
tongue with glazed amber
Harvest the autumn
red leaves sign caution
blood in the engine
ghosts crawling through dry veins
Spells cast the season
cold snap of reason
heavy pulse turn plasma
gears shifting beneath the plates
_________________________________________________________________
Casting Cards
by Scott Thomas Outlar
Bio: 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.
