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March 25, 2024

Of Their Noises and Vocalisations

By Ndaba Sibanda

Of Their Noises and Vocalisations

a parrot is pretty,
and probably prudent and
peculiar because it talks!

come to think of it,
the above stanza has five Ps,
perhaps a parrot says: I'm a person?

I wonder why a swan cries
while a snail munches and maybe ...
maybe that's why a linnet chuckles?

How I wish I could see a rooster's
internal clock that makes it envision
sunrise, a day-to-day hunt for food

and of course, territorial protection!
a rooster crows a wake-up in the morn,
and the vim for its day and nightly crows?

a kangaroo chortles, as if to say,
your hearing, sight and hopping abilities
are not a patch on mine, you're game!

The other day I heard a kangaroo boast:
I can hop 25 feet, come in several sizes
and shapes, use my tail as my fifth leg!!

I guess it's not a wise idea to sneak
into a hideout with a flashy frog since
it croaks, and a petty pig that snarls,

but call to mind, it can tell you
how it is smarter than a dog
that barks, that it can't sweat!

why does a hyena laugh?
strange as it may sound, by virtue
of a sense of frustration and insecurity.
One day I said: enough of domestic noises
and vocalisations, because a horse was
neighing, a donkey braying, a cow mooing: moo!

a goat lowing: maa! a dog howling: owooooooo!
a content cat purring, meowing, a duck quaking,
a cackling chicken after laying an egg, what a tune,

after saying enough of the egg song, I headed
for the forest, a mannerless mosquito tingled
me before buzzing and whining away, damn!

evading my swat by the skin of its proboscis,
how could it bite me to obtain protein that
it needs in order to lay its eggs? more what?

that meant more mosquito bites in the future,
in the wilderness a quail called, a lion roared,
a hapless hare squeaked , a cricket chirped,

a monkey chattered like a tireless gossip,
so much so that an okapi let out ... yes
a mocking, maddening cough while,

a giant alligator appeared and bellowed,
and if that did not get me crying and cringing,
the elephant's trumpeting saw my feet fly away!






Article © Ndaba Sibanda. All rights reserved.
Published on 2022-01-10
Image(s) are public domain.
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