Emergency

Every day there was an emergency.

He was a firefighter some thirty years

first response, he witnessed life and death

people in need and on the edge.



He put out fires of one kind or another

every day on shift, ran from one emergency

to another extricating a man from

his crumbled car or performing CPR

on a 10 year old whose last wish was to

go to Disney World.



It’s no wonder now that he’s retired

he’s still putting out fires in one way

or another. He feels he’s wasting his time

when life is going along smoothly

no emergencies, no calls to duty. His

eyes light up and he’s passionate

when there’s a problem to solve or

people who need his help. Once

a firefighter, always a firefighter.



Judy Roney
November 23, 2009

Explosion

My life was blown apart, decimated
by a bullet that went through my sons
head and exploded into our lives.
The stench of burning flesh permeates
my senses when I go there, and sometimes
I have to go there, have to step where
he stepped and feel what he felt.
I deserve that much, he was my son
and I didn’t know. The explosion
rumbled through my life as it proliferated
into a mushroom cloud, nothing
was recognizable, nothing was retrievable.
I pick up the pieces still and lay them
about me, trying to make them fit into
something recognizable but they never
do. I know about explosions now.
I know about starting over and rebuilding
I know about life now.

Judy Roney
November 17, 2009

Lines

I’m never stuck in a line
never have to tap my foot
in impatience or stew in anger

I’m never bored while I wait
in a line at the Krogers
or at Doctor Korte’s office

I always have choices,
a small book tucked
inside my purse awaits

just such a moment
and since these times
in lines lend themselves

to thinking and figuring out
I always have my tiny
orange “Thoughts” book

where I can write down
a good idea, a word I hear
or the lines in my next poem.

Judy Roney
November 14, 2009