Underneath

Underneath my skin are more
Layers of skin, piled all around
My wrapped-up network of veins,
Arteries and muscles.

Only some parts project outward,
Blink in the air, like eyes, sunder
In three my exposed face-disc –
Or wounds, puncturing blubber:

Antibodies pour to the point of entry,
Grieve over the intrusion,
Pick up the pieces of my flesh,
Make flush the gap of death.

Underneath my skin nothing
Is allowed in.


Shrink-wrapped, shelled up,
My organs suck and push
My bones shine full
My joints wrench sideways

- exhilarating effort I do not see
Beneath the outward projected image
Of my skinny self -
What untold discipline!

Down under my closed skin
I do not feel what happens;
My heart is only in one place,
My nerves merely react.

I wonder who it is
Taking care of me.

© 2007 Richard Townrow

quirky poem

There isn’t much that doesn’t say something about you

We held a dirge for the cat, over dinner,

While baked beans went ping in the microwave.

The two actions went strangely together.

Our pet beetle ran wild one day

But we forgot to pray,

And instead went to play mini-golf.

Hand-me-downs were rejected by us

But it was expensive to buy

Pixar films again and again.

Moses might have had a shining face

But we had shiny shoes

Most days we went to school.

Chances are you will forget:

What you will do in the next minute,

What is significant.

© 2007 Richard Townrow

The sound of the noise

The sound of the noise

cannot be picked up;

but the noise is there,

flickering.

Its roundness is too polished,

slippered, not grasped,

hitched up around your view,

but there.

Shifting into a higher gear

it rises, drilling you

downward into concrete

baskets.

Gathered paving below

oppresses, heightened by

the smoke-laden glow:

Disorientation.

Amidst this grinding cruelty

you suffer and grope,

flee your corner,

always told what to do.

If there was a tower

that broke away from hard grey,

you would ride it

to the top.

2007 Richard Townrow

Purpose of this blog

A few words on the purpose of this blog:

There is much that I need from others. I depend on them to help me in good times and bad, and direct me into good paths and not into others. The world is very needy, a place of difficulty and sadness, war and want. How do we cope?

Each of us contribute, bringing our own unique sound into a world of noise. My (inevitably flawed) contribution to writing is here. The things I can do, I must do. The things that are "me" things, the things that I can enjoy and thank God for, no matter how random (as long as they are good), I can go and do. So I will.

My writing is early and experimental, but I want it to work. I will be putting up my thoughts on different books and thinkers, as well as some poems and other creative things that I do which help me to think things through, or which I hope others will enjoy and/or benefit from. Please reflect on this stuff and then send me your comments here, so I can change and learn too.

I want to make you think. More than that – I want to persuade you, surprise you, challenge and confront you, intrigue you and enliven you, encourage you and grip you. I don't want you to sit still after reading, I want you to be a different person. This, I think, is why anyone writes.

The rest is up to you.

A few words on the purpose of this blog:

There is much that I need from others. I depend on them to help me in good times and bad, and direct me into good paths and not into others. The world is very needy, a place of difficulty and sadness, war and want. How do we cope?

Each of us contribute, bringing our own unique sound into a world of noise. My (inevitably flawed) contribution to writing is here. The things I can do, I must do. The things that are "me" things, the things that I can enjoy and thank God for, no matter how random (as long as they are good), I can go and do. So I will.

My writing is early and experimental, but I want it to work. I will be putting up my thoughts on different books and thinkers, as well as some poems and other creative things that I do which help me to think things through, or which I hope others will anjoy and/or benefit from. Please reflect on this stuff and then send me your comments here, so I can change and learn too.

I want to make you think. More than that – I want to persuade you, surprise you,
challenge and confront you, intrigue you and enliven you, encourage you and grip you. I don't want you to sit still after reading, I want you to be a different person. This, I think, is why anyone writes.

The rest is up to you.