Page 22 - Bere Regis November 2023

November 2023 November 2023

My First English Book
(One Page in Particular)

If you have several eagles, then that is a convocation.
For crocodiles, it’s a bask, for starlings, a murmuration.
If you have a number of wolves, it is likely to be a pack.
If it’s a load of jellyfish, then that can be a smack.
Porcupines form a prickle and not everybody knows,
But if you’ve got a lot, it could be a murder of crows.

The decibels go up, whenever a lion pride growls.
It’s an obstinacy for buffaloes and a parliament for owls.
It could well be a herd, if you’ve got more than one goat.
It’s a pandemonium for parrots and for hippopotami, a bloat.
For ravens, it’s an unkindness. You may wonder how it can be,
For apes, it is a shrewdness. It’s a swarm for more than one flea.

For cattle, it’s a mob, when they’re driven in a group.
For monkeys, it’s a wilderness, but more usually, a troop.
It’s an ostentation of peacocks, but it can also be a muster.
Cats can be a clowder, but if you’ve got a cluster,
It can also be a pounce, or even a destruction,
When the felines are feral and heading for a ruction.

It is a flamboyance of flamingos. It can also be a stand.
For giraffes it is a tower. For gorillas it’s a band.
That conjures up an image. What sort of band would it be?
It would probably just be a trio, if there was only three.
The list is seemingly endless. It’s a company of wigeons,
But, it’s only a humble kit, when it comes to discussing pigeons.

Whilst I was still at school, in the sphere of education,
I was never good at retaining copious information,
However, as a little boy and maybe eight years of age,
There was one specific book and I even remember the page.
It was, I do recall, a subject, over which, I’d pore,
And it caught my imagination, like nothing had before.

Paul J Openshaw 2019

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