Collective Farm

In the best collective use,

Geese afoot are gaggles

(Even when one goose gets loose,

Falls behind and straggles);

Skein‘s the word for geese in flight.

Turtledoves form dools.

Barren‘s right (though impolite)

For a pack of mules.

Starlings join in murmuration,

Pheasants in a rye,

Larks in lovely exaltation,

Leopards, leap (they’re spry).

Ducks in flight are known as teams;

Paddings when they swim.

Herrings in poetic gleams

Please the wordsmith’s whim.

Cats collect into a clowder,

Kittens make a kindle.

Sloths of bears growl all the louder

As their forces dwindle.

Lapwings gather in deceit,

Apes convene in shrewdness,

Mares in stud (an odd conceit

Bordering on lewdness).

Foxes muster in a skulk,

Squirrels run in drays

While collectives in the bulk

Make up word bouquets.

— Felicia Lamport

Via Futility Closet