Guest-Editorial: Scott Thomas Outlar (Western Voices)

Scott Thomas Outlar

All the World Is a Stage

And the horses will gallop

and the cows will chew the cud

and the sheep will graze

(while being led astray)

and the vultures will perch

and the rats will scurry

and the turtles will shrink their heads

and the swine will bathe in their troughs

and the skunks will spray their scent

and the goats will gnaw on bones

and the wolves will hunt

and the foxes will maneuver with stealth

and the serpents will slither

and the salmon will swim

and the bulls will charge

and the frogs will hop

and the ravens will sing their refrains

and the owls will judge by night

and the ants will march after sugar

and the bees will buzz near the flowers

and the butterflies will flutter

and all the farm will play its part in kind

as both the shepherds

and the butchers watch over

…

The doves awakened early and began performing a raucous concert this morning. A hymnal to the sun. A symphonic meditation welcoming subtle hints of spring. They sense the signs as well as we. Shrouded in layers of cloth and fur, I joined their ecstatic ceremony, praising all forms of warmth in this world. Humming a psalm to the fire in your heart. I swore to never blink again, and I wasn’t just whistling Dixie.

All the secrets laced in your language, the hidden treasures of your verse, the diamonds in your cut, the crafty movements of your verbs … will no longer be occulted after crows are finished pecking apart the veil to reveal spilled vials.

Round two of the roaring twenties sent us spinning through a phase shift from the already obnoxious Age of Wuhan straight into Orwell’s fevered dream. The script keeps getting screwier, the acts more bizarre, the strings pulled behind the scenes more unhinged. But that’s all fine and dandy because we still have honesty and integrity on our side, right? Isn’t that art’s inherent purpose, after all? To seek out and enshrine the highest order of truth? Consult your conscience with care before answering because we all know that poetry is prone to whispering little white lies. But regardless, how fortunate are we to live in these interesting times when such a theory is being tested under the most extraordinary pressures? Commence counting lucky stars. 

…

It’s been an absolute pleasure serving as guest editor on this third annual western voices edition of Setu Mag. Thank you to Sunil Sharma and Anurag Sharma for the opportunity, and thank you to all the wonderful writers whose contributions made this issue possible. 

I’ve also been inspired of late while working along with Mihaela Melnic on our forthcoming collaborative book, Evermore (due out later this year through Concrete Mist Press). So please excuse my ruminations which may seem slightly obsessed with current conditions upon the farm. But, as they say, if the boot fits… 

Selah,
Scott Thomas Outlar

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Poetry: Western Voices (February 2021): Authors

Alan Britt Carol Welter Chani Zwibel Dharmpal Mahendra Jain  Donna Snyder Don Beukes Duane Vorhees Dustin Pickering gary lundy Heath Brougher J. K. Winters John Drudge Kashiana Singh Kathy Ellis L. B. Sedlacek Lauren Scharhag

Linda Imbler Maria Castro Dominguez Matthew Borczon Mela Blust Michael Lee Johnson Mihaela Melnic Robert Maddox-Harle Robin Wyatt Dunn Ryan Quinn Flanagan Sabah Carrim Soodabeh Saeidnia Strider Marcus Jones Wayne F. Burke Z. M. Wise Z. T. Balian

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Setu, February 2021