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Flames

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  Smokey the Bear heads
into the autumn woods
with a red can of gasoline
and a box of wooden matches.

His ranger's hat is cocked
at a disturbing angle.

His brown fur gleams
under the high sun
as his paws, the size
of catcher's mitts,
crackle into the distance.

He is sick of dispensing
warnings to the careless,
the half-wit camper,
the dumbbell hiker.

He is going to show them
how a professional does it.

Billy Collins


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Read poems about / on: autumn, sick, red, sun, warning

 
  Comments about this poem (Flames by Billy Collins )
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  Brandy Reese  (3/8/2009 10:18:00 AM)

I love this poem i actually used it for class not only because Collins is one of my teachers favorite poems but because of the way it is written. I think Collins is someone who cares about the environment. He is saying that basically smoky the bear is giving up because it's pointless to even try anymore.
  Krista Churchill  (12/13/2008 2:23:00 AM)

Funny and cute.....
  Nathan Markowitz  (11/13/2007 9:14:00 PM)

I think it's funny. I knew that smokey was a hipocrit. For all we know, he smokes. It just shows you what the world we live in is like. Oh well, we will figure out what to do with ourselves sooner or late.- Your critic, Nathan Markowitz
  Tired of Being Exploited  (5/25/2007 1:03:00 PM)

Good ol' Smokey, it was just a metter of time before he'd snap. I wonder if Woodsy the owl is going along with it?
  Michael Gale  (3/18/2006 8:38:00 PM)

It is a good story but i feel that there could have been more added to it. Best regards-Mike Gale.

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