Geese And Swans

Anatidae

'What’s that?' I say.
Your lips rearrange as if preparing
to spout your knowledge.

'Ducks, Geese and Swans
a biological family
with a cosmopolitan distribution.'

My heart sinks. I'm being
talked at again. 'Right.
Don’t swans mate for life?'

'Some monogamous,
some threatened with extinction
like your marriages.'

Where did that barb spike from?
'Dad! A funny family –
the ducks and geese such different shapes.'

'Broad and elongated body plan.
All soft keratin with a thin
and sensitive layer on top.'

Crane over your shoulder to see
you’re on Wikipedia again.
Say, too loudly: 'You’re just reading it out!'

You look so fiercely at me.
'Vocal birds that quack, honk,
squeak and trumpet.'

I thought a walk by the lake
might help, give some perspective.
I try to smooth your shoulders out.

You point at something. The tablet or you?
'One of the few birds
to possess a penis.'

Your muscles a mass of twisted iron bars.
I look at the screen, snatch a phrase
'Popular for pillows.'

'Just like our lot', you say,
'the relationships of the different tribes
and subfamilies are poorly understood.'

Laugher overpowers us
pulls the common thread tight.