Kenneth P. Gurney
The helmet-less skateboarder
with his head split open
never checked his rearview
for the one-in-a-million chance
gaining on him and all of his
experience through
six-hundred-thousand plus
ollies, railslides, and mctwists
makes no real difference
as the EMT scribbles the words
organ donor
on some official looking form
before the ambulance zooms off
toward the hospital.
About the poet:
Kenneth P. Gurney lives in Albuquerque, NM. His poetry appears mostly on the web, as he prefers to spend SASE and reading-fee monies on pumpkin spice cookies for his Dianne. His latest book is An Accident Practiced: Poems by Kenneth P. Gurney. To learn more about Kenneth, visit www.kpgurney.me/Poet/Welcome.html
About the poem:
“I witnessed the ambulance arrive and went over to find out what was going on. The kid with his head split open lay on the sidewalk. He was a skateboarder of skill, according to his frightened friends. I made up the part about the EMT scribbling ‘organ donor,’ but I had heard ER nurses comment that bicyclists and skateboarders who do not wear helmets are ‘future organ donors.’ The poem’s title reflects that the law of averages catch up to even the best of us.“
Poetry editors:
Judy Schaefer and Johanna Shapiro
