Poems and Thoughts    by Frank Maurer

[Return to Poems and Thoughts index page]

Herding Geese. Herding geese is definitely not like herding cats. I should know because my little farm produced 600 geese annually. (And I also had unherdable cats on the farm, thanks to Nora, my now late wife.) These were not 'water birds' as one might suspect, Rather they were pasture-raised Embden Geese, A large, handsome, agile-on-land, white bird. To work with geese, one manipulates them to move anywhere, Simply by walking near them, raising one's arms--left or right or both, And the mass of white, cloud-like life bunches, Then turns to the left with a right arm signal, Obviously, turning correspondingly with a left arm raised, And straight ahead with both arms raised above one's shoulders. To split a smaller group off from the larger body, One merely holds both arms raised and walks quickly forward. Such a wonderful feeling, being able to gently control Such a large group of fellow farm creatures, Almost the same as conducting a Brahms symphony, Leading an orchestra of one hundred ! Frank Maurer 8 July 2023 0915 Hours.