Disagreeable Birds - Nov 3 2023

 

Disagreeable Birds

Nov 3 2023

I've always called them V s,

what else?

But apparently, it's a skein of geese;

like a ball of wool

unravelling,

a ragged strand

draped across the sky.

In V formation;

the secret

to low resistance flight.

Is the knowledge there at birth?

Or is it trial and error,

settling into their ranks

strongest first?

So not just sensible geese

fleeing winter,

but physicists

conducting experiments

in aerodynamics

in real time.

On the ground, though, it's a gaggle of geese.

So they are also poets,

well-versed

in onomatopoeia,

alliteration,

clever prosody.

I hear them honking, and look up.

See blue denim sky,

well-washed

if somewhat shabby,

adorned with cotton puff clouds

and a skein of fabric

heading south.

Combative geese

who sound annoyed with each other

and easily riled.

Which is just what you'd expect

of these disagreeable birds,

and doesn't surprise me at all

when I think back

to road trips from my childhood.

Before air conditioned cars

and the internet,

and with a dad

intent on “making time”.

Crammed

between two brothers

on the back bench seat

of a sensible Chevy sedan;

the youngest

stuck

on the middle hump.

Bare legs

on super-heated vinyl,

clammy sweat

trickling between our cheeks

and sticking down our legs.

Tempers flared,

elbows jabbed,

feet

battled on the floorboards;

territory

was claimed and lost.

If not a skein, then a fraternity.

But geese-like, nevertheless;

grudging wing-men

protesting all the way

to Florida and back.