Rescue Dogs

Fred Zirm has known and adopted many Rescue Dogs throughout his life. These canine companions taught him both serious and humorous lessons about life, love, friendship, aging, death, and resilience. Between the laughter and the tears, these delightful and heartwarming poems featuring Carabelle, Dory, Larry, Woofer, Trey, and Snuffles, will have you ponder: Who rescued whom?

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...these fetching meditations show the deep affection and abiding insights that come from living tenderly with animals..."

-Zach Savich, author of Daybed

"Take a walk with Fred Zirm and his dogs. You'll be reminded of why you came to poetry in the first place."

-George Bilgere, author of Cheap Motel Rooms of My Youth

"...his poems become the leash we follow to a deeper understanding of what it means to be alive. With its wit, intelligence, and profound emotion, Rescue Dogs deserves a place on every dog owner's-and poetry lover's-bedside table."

-Sue Ellen Thompson, author of Sea Nettles: New & Selected Poems

After earning a B.A. and M.A. in English from Michigan State and an M.F.A. from the Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa, Fred Zirm spent nearly 40 years teaching English and drama at an independent boys' school in Maryland. Since his retirement, he has continued to direct plays at community theaters but has also focused on writing poetry and has become deeply involved with the Writers' Center at the Chautauqua Institution. His work has been published in over a dozen small literary magazines and anthologies, including The Café Review, Still Crazy, cahoodadoodaling (Pushcart Prize nominee), Greek Fire, Poeming Pigeons, and Objects in the Rearview Mirror. His first poetry chapbook, Object Lessons (Main Street Rag), was published in January 2021. Rescue Dogs is his second poetry chapbook (The Poetry Box, 2024), which was a finalist for The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize.