WHERE THERE'S SMOKE Poems by Tim Hoppey What The Fireman Knows • When The Fireman Showers • What The Fireman Should Say • When The Fireman Sleeps • When The Fireman Gets Off Work • When The Fireman Goes Dancing • When The Fireman Fixes Chow • When The Fireman Tells That Old Joke • How The Fireman Is Like A Boxer • How The Fireman Is Like No One Else • What The Fireman Believes • Who The Fireman Loves • When The Fireman Vacations • When The Fireman Extends His Hand • When The Fireman Dies • When The Fireman Crawls In • When The Fireman Burns • When The Fireman Gets Grafted • What The Fireman Fears • How The Fireman Makes Beds • When The Fireman Mops Floors • How The Fireman Is Like A Shepherd • When The Fireman Makes A Grab • How The Fireman Is Like A Soldier • What The Fireman Craves • When The Fireman Leaves For Work • Why The Fireman Dreams Of Hiroshima • When The Fireman Gets His Cancer • Who The Fireman Calls Brother • How The Fireman Puts Out A Fire • When The Fireman Works Nights • When The Fireman Works Christmas • Who The Fireman Comes Home To • When The Fireman Holds His Son • Why The Fireman Opens The Hydrant • What The Fireman Reads In His Horoscope • When The Fireman Responds • When The Fireman Makes An Egregious Error • Why The Fireman Gardens • When The Fireman Thinks Of You • Who The Fireman Will Phone • How The Fireman Is Like Cuchulain • Why The Fireman Writes Poetry $10.00 US • 56 pages Copyright © 2001 Argonne House Press. ISBN 1-88761-51-3

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How The Fireman Is Like A Shepherd

He does not know you by name,
but still he is here
to take you into the folds
of his turnout coat
and protect you.
The smoke is thick as fur,
and the wolves are everywhere
baring teeth and tongues of flame,
and they have come to kill you.
He searches every corner of fear
and keeps going,
crawling on all fours
like an animal himself
to find you.
For you
he will lay down his life.