four poems || scott thomas outlar

​

​Headlight Fever
 

I wasted all my venom
too early
 
now I’m a stuffed koala
bathing in the sun
 
baking eucalyptus
 
laughing at the world
spin round and round
 
You told me every flash point
needs flint
to spark
 
now my hair is on fire
rip off the covers
 
rest in the ash of your laurels
 
waiting for the lesson
to burn at will



 
Queen’s Gambit
 

What’s ten seconds in life
to pick up your coat
dust your courage
shine the sleeves
 
or twenty toward a regiment
or thirty for the screws
 
What does one minute matter
during the moment of laughter
 
Forty days and bleed again
 
What’s five years of the groundhog
haunting the burrows
chasing the hare
choked by the tail
 
or six to leave permanent scars
or seven stitches through the night
 
What does one hour’s profit measure
when the till is hollowed out
 
Eighty gods dream of jinn
 
nines in the gallows
nines where the genes swirl
nines beyond the vapor trail
 
nine promises intersect at zero-point



 
Broken Geometry II
 

I’m going to cough up something new
always retire two steps too soon
 
dance a little odd
 
sick to death
love to death
 
Without a purpose there is no compass
three points shy of the square
 



 
Morning After
 

The scratch of bark is God’s breath
get used to suffering, inherent with the womb
 
I ate your hollow on Wednesday
licked your teeth for the crumbs