Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

Ham & Havarti on Sourdough by Scott Thomas Outlar

Ham & Havarti on Sourdough

This is a poem about animals on the farm
of which I am one

a poem about their actions
swine and lion factions

a fascination with the trough

This is a poem about the moo cow
golden milk and rawhide leather

a poem about the slaughtering fields
twelve score of eggs divide in fractions

a scrap of cake for the holy geese

This is a poem about cheese in the cellar
of rats and wine where weasels roam

a poem about foxes lost in the henhouse
pecking order, clutched pearls, and crown

a blanket from the shearing season

This is a poem about snakes in the cud
the smell of skunk and rabbit blood

a poem about the spit-shined blade
hyenas squeal and curse their fate

a gavel in the eyes of owl

~
Scott Thomas Outlar lives and writes in the suburbs outside of Atlanta, Georgia. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Selections of his poetry have been translated into Afrikaans, Albanian, Bengali, Dutch, French, Italian, Kurdish, Persian, Serbian, and Spanish. His sixth book, Of Sand and Sugar, was released in 2019 through Cyberwit Press. He hosts a podcast, Songs of Selah, that airs weekly on 17Numa Radio and features interviews with contemporary poets, artists, musicians, and health advocates. More about Outlar’s work can be found at 17Numa.com.

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