Tag Archives: poem about animals

Cleanup Crew for SOCS

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Not dead..just stuffed full and taking a rest.

Cleanup Crew

They eke their living out of our scraps
purloined while we are taking naps
or out for walks or just aren’t looking––
so intent upon our cooking
that we fail to see them scamper
(from where they hide behind the hamper)
out to gather crumbs they seek.
But instead, they prompt an “Eek”
as Mom goes one way, they the other
off to find, they hope, another
kitchen where the cook’s more willing
to ignore their needs for filling
rodent jaws and rodent tummies
with some errant human yummies.

The SOCS prompt is eek/eke

Mismatched for SOCS

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Mismatched 

When a certain fella has had a drink
or two or three, he’s bound to wink
at the little lady dressed in pink.
Her drink’s cubes give a subtle clink
as she decides what she might think.
Is he a stud or just a fink?
His clothes are sort of rinky-dink,
yet her long lashes, swathed in ink,
flutter in a come-on blink.
One fingernail is seen to sink
into her glass. He’s at the brink
of coming over to seal the link.
She checks her breath.  It doesn’t stink.
She reaches down and dons her mink.
But then he stops and seems to shrink.
In this sure deal there seems a chink.
It’s clear that when she deigned to flirt,
she missed the writing on his shirt.
This is the message that went unread:
“Be kind to animals,” it said.

The SOCS prompt is shirt. Image by Marco Lastella

Conjoinings (Interspecies and Otherwise)

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Conjoinings (Interspecies and Otherwise)

Spiders have spiderlings, cats have their kittens.
Elbow-length gloves perhaps produce mittens.
Whenever a boy cockroach happens to mount her,
a girl cockroach procreates right on my counter!

Such coteries tend to insist on inbreeding,
but the world’s solidarity comes from cross-seeding.
Thus, mermaids lure sailors onto the rocks
for intercourse better confined to their docks.

When horses and zebras conjoin, then of course,
the end is a hebra, or perhaps  a zorse?
A tiger from Asia and lion from Niger
might call their offshoot a tion or liger.

The tone of this poem? I admit it is crass.
It ends with a haddock  shtupping a bass.
resulting in baddocks or perhaps a hass.
Another stanza? Bet you’re glad that I pass!!

Prompt words are spiderling, tone, solidarity, coterie, counter and dock.

Druthers

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Druthers

Exemplarily patient when dealing with cats
and rabbits and dogs and hamsters and rats,
trivial matters dealing with mankind
more often than not unsettled her mind.

People toyed with emotions and also, I fear,
were petty and often grossly insincere.
They closed off emotions or tried to be clever—
duplicitous acts that a cat or dog never

would dream to display, for they were what they were,
be it kitten or tiger or show dog or cur.
When out in public or behind  a closed door,
pets are what they are and they are nothing more.

Be they lazy or edgy or tame or unruly,
it will be their true selves on view to yours truly.
People can be puzzling, but not so a pet,
What you see with an animal is what you get!

 

 

 

Prompt word today are toy, closed,  trivial, exemplarily. Image of parakeet by Den Trushtin. All others by me.

Kangaroo Coup

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Kangaroo Coup

I scored a knockout in Kentucky against a kangaroo.
Before he aimed his kick at me, I simply staged a coup.
I could have killed with kindness, but  I chose not to do it
because I knew that if I did, I’d very likely rue it.

 

For A Letter A Week: The Letter “K”
Image by Graham Holshausen on Unsplash.

Place – kentucky

Emotion – kindness

Adjective – knockout

Verb – kick

My animal – kangaroo

Fauna Fashion

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Fauna Fashion

Fox in sox and cats in spats.
Dogs in clogs and rats in hats.
When pigs are on sabbatical,
they’re rather acrobatical,

so they depend on spandex suits
as well as stretchy rubber boots
to make sure they don’t skid and fall
when they’re performing in the mall.

In urban settings, it’s a blessing
that there’s more reason to be dressing
formally. Of course that means
a negative on cut-off jeans.

Cool cats are not satisfied
until they have been spatified,
and sequined tops and silken slacks
are de rigueur, as are scoop backs.

But, perchance, have you been  guessing
the one bird not fond of dressing?
(His response you’ll find less quirky
when you hear that it’s the turkey.)

Prompts today are fox, sabbatical, negative, urban and satisfied. All illustrations are free images from the internet.

Good Dog

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Good Dog

Before they strapped a chain link trinket around his coal black throat,
a hundred loving strokes a day smoothed his black fur coat.
He had a special diet stacked neatly on a shelf,
and though it was placed low enough for him to reach himself,
he never helped himself to it, and right up to this writing,
I never heard one word of his barking or his biting.
A paragon of virtue, he expelled no doggie farts,
and though his nose was yearning to explore some private parts,
he kept it strictly to himself, polite without a lapse,
and came running with his flouncy gait to whistles or to claps.
In short, he was the perfect dog—sleek and trim and dark,
so when his master took him running in the park,
he always got a special treat in his own private cup,
and to reward his human, he lapped the whole thing up!


I photographed this good boy in the park in Sheridan, Wyoming, where I went with my friend Marti, and since I am a good girl, I lapped up a cup of chocolate and salted caramel ice cream myself as well!

Prompt words today are expel, trinket, self, flounce and writing.

Fatal Wonder

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Fatal Wonder

Where’s that naughty kitty been?
Even though it’s nearly ten,
she’s not had a single nibble
of the tuna and the kibble
that I put outside the door
long ago—two hours or more.
If dead from curiosity,
she’s passed her illness onto me!  

For dverse Poets Quadrille Challenge: Curious

The King of Beasts Fetes the Animal Kingdom

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The King of Beasts Fetes the Animal Kingdom

When he threw a sumptuous banquet to honor all his minions,
they showed up by the thousands via hoof and fin and pinions.
He planned a sumptuous feast , hoping that it would invigorate,
but instead the meal he’d served only served to agitate.
The pelicans were shocked by the roast turkey and fried chicken, 
for they found such a diet to be less than finger-licken’.

The shrimp cocktail gagged the flounder and made the tuna ill.
Before they even had a bite, they found they’d had their fill.
The black Angus were all traumatized when they were served the veal.
Sheep couldn’t eat the mutton and Baaah-humbugged the whole meal.
Thus, one-by-one they found the king of beasts to be barbarian.
How short-sighted he’d been not to just go with vegetarian!

Prompt words are sumptuous, invigorate, minion . Photo by Jeena Jeong on Unsplash. Used with permission.

Advice on the Introduction of a New Species

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photo by Andrew Rice used with permission

Advice on the Introduction of a New Species

Lions don’t do well in a setting too bucolic.
Their herding instinct’s lethal and they flunk in ovine frolic.
Lions need to stalk and kill. They need open savannas.
They’d eat all the lambs and for dessert, eat all their nannas!
And if we shut the lions up, they’d go into decline.
Living in small cages simply isn’t leonine.
Lions need to roam the plains lest they become pathetic.
There’s nothing half so sad as a lion that’s apathetic.

Oh no. I somehow erased the pingbacks for the four prompts for this poem! Thanks to okcforgottenman for pointing this out. Well, better late than never. The prompt words were lion, apathetic, shut and bucolic.