Smoke swirls
above my head
through the light
of a street lamp
from the cigarette
I forgot was placed there
as a broken halo
Burning out
before the next puff
annihilates
The chemicals
between us
reached exhaustion
My lips
still taste
like your damp hair
down below
during those weeks
when you didn’t feel like shaving
We wore
each other’s scent
so primal
so natural
so pure
A spider crawls
upon my foot
as I pace the driveway
under a full moon
in the midnight hour
of an August eve
I don’t have time
to reflect
on whether or not
I’ve been bitten
as of yet
Instinct uses
my left hand
to swipe away
the threat
I am saved
or cursed
Blessed
or damned
We will survive
this Apocalypse
together
or
apart
It’s only a resurrection
seeking a path
toward the sky
It’s just two hearts
beating alone
to find their tempo
Stay strong
during the flux
that follows
I pray to God
as an angel
begging
for my second wing
to be restored
Scott Thomas Outlar hosts the site 17Numa.com where links to his published poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, reviews, live events, and books can be found. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Outlar was a recipient of the 2017 Setu Magazine Award for Excellence in the field of literature. His words have been translated into Afrikaans, Albanian, Dutch, Italian, French, Persian, and Serbian. He has been a weekly contributor for the cultural newsletter Dissident Voice since 2014. His most recent book, Abstract Visions of Light, was released in 2018 through Alien Buddha Press.
