Sunday 12 June 2011

Succinctly Yours Week 12

Grandma's Goulash at Succinctly Yours hosts this microfiction meme. Each week she posts a photographic prompt for inspiration and the challenge is to write a story using no more 
than 140 characters or words. Below is this week's photo followed by my offerings.

 
Image courtesy Grandma's Goulash

‘Come along, ducky*, time for a swim,’ he said.

‘I’m not a duck, I’m a goose, just like you,’ she hissed.
(103 characters)
(*’ducky’ is a term of endearment in UK)


Said the gander to his wife,
‘I will love you all my life.
We’ll build a nest together
And line it with soft feathers;
Sweet lavender I’ll bring you,
To soothe and comfort you who
With me will raise our goslings
And guard them against all things
Until they’re fully-fledged.’

Said the goose to the gander,
‘I love the way you pander
To my every wish and whim;
Our wedlock will never dim.
I, your faithful wife will be
And good mother, you will see;
We will keep the pike at bay
And tell our young to keep away
From the reeds and the sedge.'

(105 words) 

25 comments:

  1. You are a master of rhyme. I've seen a lot of geese and their babies on recent walks! Tis the season for rebirth. They definitely ARE protective of their goslings. one doesn't dare walk too close.

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  2. Mama Goose does not look or sound very pleased with Daddy Goose's courting.
    But I do love the poem.

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  3. As once a Canadian, I always feel they are MY geese.

    Two lovely tributes.

    How is Frodo?

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  4. @Mary: the geese are amazing parents, I think. Geese are very interesting.
    @Janie: thank you:-)
    @Dianne: thank you, too:-)
    @Isabel: I'd be proud to claim them, too. Frodo is very well, thank you. The analgesic patch is obviously doing its job. We'll take him walking tomorrow.

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  5. The first one is kind of funny. The second poem is just so sweet.

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  6. Lovely. The poem is appropriate as geese mate for life.

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  7. This is so sweet-and true-I saw four geese doing just that the other weekend-standing around the goslings as they slept, and they had a definite air of guarding about them.

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  8. I used to work with an Englishman some years my senior, and he sometimes called me "Ducks" but often called me "Petal"! Neither, of course, would be an endearment for a goose, although I've also heard, "Oh, you little goose!"
    As a third-generation Canadian, I like to think of Canada Geese as "our geese."
    Always love your posts and poems, Janice, and I always read all the comments, too. Good to know Frodo is going to be going walking with all of you soon.
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  9. I liked them both! Very well done!

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  10. Very nice! Your 140 made me laugh (mine featured a flirting goose, as well) and I loved the play on words with "ducky" (you know how I love a good pun).

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  11. That's one bird we don't have in the Everglades. Go figure ...

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  12. She must have had PMS that day.

    Your poem is sweet and tender--the loving words between the goose and gander couple, and great use of lavender!

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  13. Do you know that in Boise where my son lives the Canada geese are considered a nuisance?-- Well, I must admit there are rather a lot of them but I don't think I could call them a nuisance or any wild life for that matter. Not even ground squirrels, crow or starlings. Now rattle snakes...that's another story.

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  14. What a romantic love story !

    I have my doubts though about the couple. Usually the female is a grey ugly thing and the male a beauty (at least for geese, not for humans) so I am not sure if this picture is not representing two males ? Never mind, they also can get married.

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  15. @Deborah, Sonia - thank you:-)
    @Belle: their fidelity is one of the things I admire about geese.
    @Sarah - thank you:-)
    @Kay: thank you. We're pleased with our boy, Frodo. He doesn't understand why he can't go out with the other dogs but he quite likes the compensatory biscuits;-)
    @Helen, Lisa,Robert, Pat, Arlee: thank you all:-)
    @Chris: all living things have their purpose in the ecosystem though it's sometimes hard to appreciate the uglier, more dangerous ones;-)
    @Gattina: it's hard to tell the difference between male and female Canada Geese though it seems to me the female is slightly smaller. Very handsome birds!

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  16. Quite a micro-fiction! Such a romantic poem about the geese, I love everything :-)

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  17. @Anyes: thank you! The romance keeps coming to the fore;-)

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  18. What a wonderful poem! Perfect!

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  19. The ducky mf was cute and your rhyme was absolutely awesome. Very clever.

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  20. A joke and a poem both! love it!

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  21. I loved the conversation or conversation stopper. Sweet, endearing piece of verse.

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  22. I loved your cute goose poem. Perfect for the photo too.

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