Poem of the Week: Scott Thomas Outlar – ‘Maple Syrup Sex Appeal’

1st Place
Scott Thomas Outlar – ‘Maple Syrup Sex Appeal’

Poisonous porcupines are falling from the torn sky today,
piercing with pinpoint precision into my head.
I don’t have the right type of extraction needles handy
so I just let the poison seep in deeply
until every raw nerve in my system is on fire with pain.

The bleached sun is draining all its angst in a fit;
no love being shown for this tired Earth
that its warm solar light is meant to be replenishing.
The vines are withering from a severe lack of water
in this drought come lately.
A black cat just spit up a spiked lizard’s tail
after the jagged scales tore its stomach to shreds.

That heart you carved into the tree trunk
back when our love was young and vibrant
is looking more lonely by the hour
as the brand loses its selling power
and all the initials dry up from a lack of proper funding.
Molten magma maple syrup seeps out from the wound,
covering the romantic gesture with a sticky membrane
that no amount of makeup sex
will ever wash away.

The tired, empty bed of disillusion is calling your name
in a broken tongue that sounds like disjointed gibberish,
babbling nonsense all the while
without a solid theory foundation to stand upon.
The walls are caving under the massive pressure
of a lazy barometric assault sent from heaven.
Pull the cold sheets up around your scarred body
to block the star light to a dim fade.
This is absolution on its worst behavior,
suggesting strongly that you give in
to every sinful base desire
that forever holds the mortal flesh weighed down in guilt.

 

Scott in his own words:

“Scott Thomas Outlar survived the chaos of both the fire and the flood…barely. Now he spends the hours flowing and fluxing with the ever changing tide of the Tao River while laughing at and/or weeping over life’s existential nature. Links to his published poetry, fiction, and essays can be found at 17numa.wordpress.com.”

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