Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

Screwing a Path Toward Salvation

God is an embryo
with a masturbatory urge toward evolution

God is an explosion of The Word:
O Jesus Christ, fuck yes!

God is a stained bed sheet
drenched in blood, sweat, cum, and tears

God is a cradled spoon:
flesh upon flesh, consciousness connected in dreams

God is the first kiss in the morning
before lovers have brushed their teeth

God is an empty space found in the loneliness
of existential childhood hallucinations

God is the righteous guillotine blade
falling fast upon the neck of a decadent empire

God is the strewn pile of cake crumbs
inherited by the meek upon the fallen earth

 

Scott Thomas Outlar is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. He now lives and writes in Frederick, Maryland. 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.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.