Charlie hasn’t written a poem in a bit. Guess we’ve both been busy enjoying summer. But now that it’s September, he’s back at it. Here’s one inspired by something that happened while Charlie was out walking Scamp. Enjoy!
Somethin’ To Do
For us volunteer firemen, often the drill 
Is to take out the fire truck, just for a thrill
No fires to fight, and emergencies, few
It’s a whole lot o’ nothing, but somethin’ to do
Off-duty was I, my head in a fog
While Ida cooked dinner, I walked the dog
The guy who drove by wasn’t someone I knowed
All of a sudden, he went off the road!
Into the culvert, he started to roll
But banged up instead on a telephone pole
Neighbors appeared and we all made a dash
To help the poor guy at the scene of the crash
The fella crawled out the passenger way
A little shook up, but he was OK
Someone proceeded to call 9-1-1
And we went on walking; our duty was done
But of course, that wasn’t the end of the tale
The old town alarm was beginning to wail
A cruiser sped by, lights flashing and glaring
Then came another, with sirens a-blaring!
“Out of the road!” I yelled at the dog
And the two of us stared at the scene agog
One cruiser, fine, that I could see
But why do we suddenly need to have three?
If that weren’t enough, to make the kids gladder,
Here come the guys in our ol’ hook n’ ladder!
What next? I wondered, (call me a cynic),
A chopper to airlift the guy to our clinic?
Ambulance came, but didn’t stay long
I guess they concluded that nothing was wrong
Tow truck then pulled the guy out of the loam
And all of us neighbors just headed on home
See, in our little town, it’s slower than slow
You’d get a parade for stubbing your toe
Most of the time, this stuff amounts to
A whole lot o’ nothing, just somethin’ to do
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
IDA’S PODCAST: Something To Do
Ida’s New Show Preimiere’s This Week
September 15 & 16: Makin’ Whoopie!, ACT ONE Beyond Festival, http://actonenh.org/ Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday at 2:00pm, Portsmouth, NH
September 29 & 30: Makin’ Whoopie!, The Footlights Theatre, http://www.thefootlightsinfalmouth.com/ Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, Falmouth, ME
Also coming up in September
September 18: Book Reading, Franco-Amercian Centre, http://umaine.edu/francoamerican/University of Maine, 6:00pm, Orono, ME
September 19: Book Reading, Old Town Library, http://old-town.lib.me.us/ Tuesday Forum Luncheon: 11am-1pm, FREE catered light lunch is served from 11am-12pm with presentation from 12-1pm, call to reserve, Old Town, ME
September 19: Book Reading, Dirigo Pines Retirement Community, http://www.dirigopines.com/ 7:15pm, Orono, ME
With Caitlin’s help, I’ve finally learned to update the schedule on my website. Check it out here: http://www.idaswebsite.com/schedule/