Duck Pond Primary
Crows are campaigning
for the abolition of eagles and hawks.
Starlings are a pollster’s nightmare
can’t make up their minds about anything.
Ducks hang around the path
in true socialist fashion:
Why get ambitious when most walkers
carry birdseed or bags of bread?
A solitary heron is the pond’s pundit
but he doesn’t look optimistic.
Chickadees with their happy-go-lucky
pine-branch somersaults and games of tag
are surely too frivolous to vote.
But most of the forest
from robins and waxwings to flickers and jays
go about their business giving nothing away.
Expect a surprise or two come election day.
© 2011 by Violet Nesdoly
******************
Even though I live in Canada, I have been following the run-up to the U.S. election with great interest. With it being only days away, I thought of “Duck Pond Primary” which I wrote last May around the time of the Canadian federal election when, after being subjected to interviews, campaign ads, signs, predictions, debates, polls and more polls, even the world of birds began to look political!
I submit this poem to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Donna at Mainely Write.
Violet Nesdoly 
Love this! I loved the part about the chickadees antics! Thanks for posting for Poetry Friday!
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Thanks for hosting, Donna! I love those chickadees. I watch them often from our kitchen patio door. They sure do have a short attention span! (You couldn’t get them to stay in one place long enough to vote 🙂
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You’ve summed up ‘pond politics’ perfectly, Violet! Really enjoyed this. I also like to think of the red-winged blackbirds as the sign-wavers, letting you know it’s that time of year!
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Clever, Matt, red-winged blackbirds sign-wavers!
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Violet, I love this poem! It’s perfect for our campaign season, which, as you say, subjects us to much we grow to tired of! The pond’s pundit- great photo – even resembles my favorite pundit!
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Thanks Joyce! It makes me grin to hear you say that the heron in my photo resembles your favorite pundit. And what will they all do when the election is over? But of course I guess there are all the entrails of the results to examine…
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I hope that many will be very tired this time next week, & will stop for a while. They seem to be frantic, like the antics of the starlings who really don’t know what to do, as you say. I too love thta photo-looks just like _. Thanks, Violet, for the firm message.
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Thanks Linda! Maybe we all just need to tune out for a while, chill as they say.
“….photo looks just like ___” makes me grin.
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Clever poem, Violet! You definitely summed up election year. Now if we could only get those chickadees to pay attention and go vote!
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Thanks, Iza! But I’m convinced those chickadees are incorrigible. They’ll never get it!
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Thanks for the election poem! I sent off my absentee ballot yesterday — now I just can’t wait for it to be over!
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Good for you! There comes a time when we all say ENOUGH! Thankfully the end is in sight…till next time 🙂
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Violet,
What a fun poem. Is it free verse, except for the ending rhyming couplet? A saw the opening 1-4 rhyme but then I lost it. Is this a form I should have identified?
I love the photo, did you take it?
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Thanks Joy. As for the structure, no it’s not a form you should have identified. It’s probably quite faulty technically. It came out as it did, though I often find myself ending even free verse ditties with a rhyme. Perhaps that’s my subconscious way of saying “so there!”
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Oh yes, and I took the photo. I have many photos of herons. They are so photogenic in a curmudgeonly way!
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This is fun, Violet! Fav part:
Chickadees with their happy-go-lucky
pine-branch somersaults and games of tag
are surely too frivolous to vote.
Love that image:>)
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Thanks so much for dropping by, Laura! I love the fact that you, along with others, enjoy the chickadees. It shows me that people who write for kids are really kids at heart!
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Perfect! Somehow it is a relief that even calm Canada gets wacky at election time. The starlings crack me up. So true.
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“Calm Canada”? Unfortunately we have our ruffled moments too… not associated so much with politics, perhaps, but other events, like sports (e.g. the Vancouver riots of a year or two ago–ugh!!).
By the way, have you plunged yourself into the Poem-A-Day challenge?
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I love the ducks hanging around the pond in socialist fashion — it reminds me of Click, Clack, Moo.
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Thanks Katya! *Grin* about those ducks. They’re modeled on the very real specimens who hang around our pond and sometimes come waddling out to meet us. We never carry food, but obviously some folks do!
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