A Friend's Great Duck Poem

Originally posted by John Metzer on Fri, Feb 04, 2011 @ 07:19 PM 

Our county has three Farm Days each year.  These enable all third graders in the county to have a field day and learn about agriculture.  Denis Wagner helped me for many years at the Monterey Farm Day.  The other day I received a book he published titled "My Ducks - and other poems".  I typically do not read poetry but I really enjoyed his duck poems.... and wanted to share the first with you.  For those of you with ducks, these words will form pictures in your mind and a smile on your face.

My Ducks
Where are my ducks?
I look out my window to discover
they're out in the road stopping traffic,
waddling in the middle lane,
dipping into the water-filled swale in the asphalt,
mindless normads on a lark,
then the procession moves into the neighbor's yard
eating his chrysanthemums down to nubs.

I go to their pen and bang the feeding bucket
to get them to come home.  Instead
they move on to the water trough near the garden,
swim like partygoers in the Caribbean.
Wading and wiggling their tails,
then web walking like ice skaters over the adjacent grass.
God only knows their methodical evolution.
I look up to see mallards fly along the river, realizing
my white Pekings are malamutes of man's invention
having nothing to do with normalcy.
But they do pacify me into laughing hysterically.

What odd balls,
not much different than some of my acquaintances.
Nothing like myself.

Thanks, Denis.  Do any of you have favorite poems of waterfowl?  For more information on Pekins, you can go to our website.