College is in the rearview—and now the real adventure begins. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be finishing my memoir, applying for jobs in publishing and editing, launching Sigma Writing Solutions, and getting ready to begin my MFA at SNHU in August. Also helping my daughter Ollie start college herself, while polishing Gemini Project, my debut fiction novel.
Read MoreCatching My Breath & Looking Ahead: Exciting News and Ongoing Work
Walking the stage Summa Cum Laude was a moment of deep reflection, joy, and purpose—a signal that this story is far from over.
Read MoreThe Storm Within: Visualizing the Silent Struggle of First Responders
These haunting portraits of an EMT grappling with invisible wounds give voice to the untold stories behind the sirens, where pain, duty, and silence collide.
Read MoreThe Weight We Carry: Mental Health in EMS and the Silence That Follows
We don’t talk about what we see. Not really. We joke, we deflect, we survive. But The Quiet After the Sirens is about what happens when the silence breaks.
Read MoreWalking Through Fire: A Warrior’s Reflection for Mental Health Awareness Month
The first of May rises not just with spring’s fragile bloom but with the tremble of a war drum echoing deep within my chest. Today marks the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Month, and for those like me—those who wear their wounds beneath the skin …
Read MoreThe Quiet After the Sirens
In The Quiet After the Sirens, Richard White—poet, veteran, and former EMS Lieutenant—offers an unflinching look at the silent battles that follow service. From the scorching deserts of Iraq to the heart-wrenching stillness of 911 calls, White confronts the toll of trauma, exposing the weight of PTSD, depression, and anxiety with raw vulnerability and unwavering honesty.
Read More🖤 National Poetry Month — Day 19 🖤
Day 19 of #NationalPoetryMonth and I went full blues-ballad with The Ballad of Burnt Hill Road.
Read MoreThe Quiet After the Call
There’s a silence most people never hear.
It’s not peace—it’s the sound after the sirens, when the adrenaline fades and the ghosts start talking.
After years in the military, fire service, and EMS, I came to know that silence too well. It isn’t quiet. It’s noise turned inward.
In that space, the heart races, the mind replays trauma, and the spirit aches under the weight of it all.
Crowded rooms became unbearable. Joy felt dangerous. And I couldn’t sit still without my hands shaking.
But healing began when I finally stopped running and listened to that silence. I learned to name the things I feared. I started writing again.
This memoir, The Quiet After the Sirens, is a testament to survival—not just in the field, but in the stillness that follows.
It’s about carrying the weight, honoring the ghosts, and learning how to breathe again.
If you’ve ever known that kind of silence, this story is for you too.
NaPoWriMo Day 13: The Gold Light in Quiet Rooms
By @RWhiteAuthor 🌿 NaPoWriMo Day 13: Inspired by Donald Justice’s “There is a gold light in certain old paintings” Today’s poem explores memory, art, and the way moments—like brushstrokes—blur and echo in the mind. Following Justice’s self-invented form, each stanza holds six lines of twelve syllables. …
Read MoreBlaze – Creative Writing Using Symbolism
You don’t choose to be a firefighter. You don’t choose to be a hero.
It’s a fire that burns inside you. Like an ember lodged in your chest that never dies, no matter how hard you try to smother it…
In Blaze, Chase Bowdry runs into burning buildings not because he wants to—but because he can’t imagine being anyone else. When a fire threatens to consume a warehouse and the girl trapped inside, Chase is forced to confront what drives him: legacy, survival, and something deeper.
Not all fires destroy. Some reveal.
🔥 “He used to think the helmet made him who he was. But now, he knew the truth… He saw himself as a flame—not the kind that consumes. The kind that carries light.”
Read More