Paying For Lazarus
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
PAYING FOR LAZARUS
The show is for
A freak.
A freak
Is for the show.
Know now
What I knew then.
Nor when.
For there
They stare.
For care.
When. Where.
Their.
Where.
They stare
With care,
Focused to
Stare where?
We are there
With no care.
Who would dare?
Dare to care.
When we
Get there.
I care for the show.
They care for the freak.
OUR FATHER'S FAILURE
Trust.
He gave his blood,
They craved.
The hand of healing
Betrayed.
Nailed.
Father decides,
Son deceived.
We decide what we
Believe.
Life conceived.
One chance
Reprieved.
And we go on
Livin',
Unforgiven.
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About the Book
The ability to paint the darker side of life in an expressive, beautiful way-though obviously paradoxical-is what young Tom learned from Frost and is what is revealed through "Sheets of Empty Canvas." Townsend hopes to mirror this to his readers. "I want to portray and draw out the beauty of things that are not normally considered attractive."
About the Author
Thomas A. Townsend is a 22-year old free-verse poet who is as rugged as the Granite State from which he hails. Much of Tom’s work stems from impressions formed as a youth in Thailand as well as New Hampshire. Tom was born the youngest of eight children. The author’s initial curiosity in poetry was spawned by an interest in his nomadic ancestral roots. They were Vikings and kept a sharp sword as well as a sharp tongue. Tom found writing to be an ideal way of channeling his untamed adolescent rage into a more productive, therapeutic venue. Writing instead of fighting was this Townsend’s credo. Tom describes his own youth as a time of tumult, confusion, consternation, and fury. He penned a "diary-full" of voluminous "streams of consciousness." "If you put yourself on paper, it’s bound to be weird," muses Mr. T. Tom prefers free-verse poetry as his primary mode of expression through this, his inaugural publication. However, he dabbles in sonnets and circle poems on occasion and at will. The most influential writers for Tom are Frost, Emerson, and perhaps most noticeable, Poe touched this young author the deepest. The ability to paint the darker side of life in an expressive, beautiful way--though obviously paradoxical--is what young Tom learned from Frost and is what is revealed through "Sheets of Empty Canvas." Townsend hopes to mirror this to his readers. "I want to portray and draw out the beauty of things that are not normally considered attractive." Also, "I see the necessity to create an appreciation for the uniqueness of the dark side." Not surprisingly, Tim is a self-proclaimed pessimist who finds some joy interspersed among the thorns of life. Deep-rooted feelings from personal demons in his adolescent distant past affected his writing, as did torment and cruelty from peers, teachers, family, and others. The realization Tom possessed marketable talent was through comparisons with published authors who (in Tom’s eyes) lacked both skill and depth. Tom decided to "go for it" as an author. Negativity, pain, gloom, hurt, and sadness bring out Tom’s best stuff. This is what he calls "the other me," a term used to describe an almost "Mr. Hyde-esque" side to his personality, a sometimes unbalanced, altered, and solitary state in which Tom Townsend’s best work comes forth.