Seen as a collection of spare parts
swimming in close formation
neither fish nor fowl
from a southern hemisphere nation
sewn together as if torn asunder
the amphibian antipodean
from way Down Under
is the odd-looking bottom-feeding
no muss nor fuss
otter-footed beaver-tailed
egg-laying duck-billed platypus
the males of which are venomous
an excellent swimmer
whenever it dives
it closes its ears nose and eyes
altho' a riparian carnivore
electroreception is how it survives
They'd wade at standards to be seen by most.
The Spoon-billed Sandpiper, who shares wading,
to dying, one hundred ten, and counting.
Stretched East Asia, Russia through China ... host.
They've spoon-shaped bills to help them scoop up moss,
insects, shrimp, and worms. They are renowned for
their calls, which males fly and sing a rapport,
sounds like 'preep' and 'wheer' can stretch it across.
Human encroachment on their feeding and
breeding wetlands threatens their survival.
Predators plague their nest a revival,
two decades, numbers dropped by two thousand.
The ascension for most and few still greens,
a descension of value bows night scenes.
of mischief and theft
swoop low! brightness of eye, and-
slyer than you seem
August 13, 2021
A duck-billed platypus
Is bathing on the bus
She left her favorite stream
To join our swimming team
She did so well last year
Her lane was free and clear
Until the final leg
When Platy laid an egg
The hippopotami
Don’t eat the platy pie
Because the hippo bake
Is better served with cake
The platy pie who pluck
Are eating Peking duck
Because the ducks that pry
Are dinner by and by
I knew a platypus
Who shared her duck with us
My dinner pals were thrilled
Because the duck was billed
O what a cunning creature
To don a double feature
The mammal with a plus
A duck-billed platypus.
red billed tropic bird
warming up the pacific
with stark white feathers
The duck-billed platypus is odd and, if the product of a god,
it's difficult to understand, why such an animal was planned,
but maybe when the rest was done, there was stuff left and so begun
one animal made from the dregs, made wearing fur and laying eggs,
enough left for a creature that, was smaller than a household cat,
with waterproof thick body hairs, packed denser than a polar bear's.
Its hearing's good, its eyesight keen, but colour vision doesn't mean
much to it; strangely still we find, when hunting, it hunts deaf and blind
for underwater, its prey yields, its presence in electric fields
which guide the platy to its kill, through sensors in its duck-like bill.
The mating season brings new quirks, two ovaries, but just one works,
the left one has to do for her, while he sports a strange poisoned spur;
for this creature is, not least, the only furry venomed beast. *
*All the facts above were checked, but one turned out not quite correct
Alas, the last line is not true - there also is a venomed shrew!
"If only, if only," the woodpeckers sigh,
"The stars in the heavens would light up the sky.
"If I could just bring
the mountains down low,
Those landforms up high,
Where my trees would grow.
"The drums, cease to roll,
The armor, to rust!
Their hatred to flowers,
Their swords into dust.
"If only, if only," the woodpeckers cry,
"Our homes had a place way up in the sky.
"But now that we've gone,
We're extinct, put away,
We all rest in peace,
And now you must pay."