Sunday, March 28, 2021

culture change

We tell anthropomorphic stories 

Tongue in cheek so to speak 

Commenting on bird behavior 

Supposing they have thoughts 


Watching the ducklings in their groups 

One set has two males with the female 

Guarding the brood passively present 

Leaving her to direct the little ones 


We never used to see any males involved 

Helping to raise their duckling progeny 

Keeping them safe from predators 

Sharing the weeks of effort with their mate


We construct a backstory to the scene 

Proposing that she mated with both of them 

Cleverly confusing who fertilized her eggs

Inducing them both to engage in parenting 


Not far away along the canal sitting on the bank

A single mother duck has her ducklings clustered 

Sitting quietly beside her nestled in a hatchling clutch

When suddenly she takes flight quacking fiercely 


Yelling at a male duck nearby skulking in the grass

Before returning quickly to settle beside her brood 

And we decide she is annoyed at this deadbeat dad

Who has left her there to raise his offspring alone


One female sadly gets no help at all 

While the other still does most of the work

But what we see looks like shifting relations

With the males expected to be more involved 


As gender roles in human culture change

It's crazy to think that nature would follow suit 

But something is going on with these ducks

As if the females are pushing for equality