No Justice, No Peace!

Geese on the prowl

Say, Honk! Say what?
Are you talkin’ to me?
Me & my homies is pissed off, ya see?
We all got a right to live and be free
To work, get respect, and to raise family.

Just like alla’ you guys, we flew in from elsewhere,
Landing here, where the grass is more green and more fair,
Escaping cold winters, oppression, and crime,
To feel warmth, love, and joy (at least some of the time),
’Cause a goose gotta be what a goose gotta be,
And our goslings deserve the best opportunities.

We’ve escaped from the bears and the dogs of the North;
To the South, the Midwest, and the East we go forth.
We’ve found some of your States so mild and carefree,
We’ve decided to live here indefinitely.
We’ve adapted to wetlands and freshwater lakes,
to ballparks and schoolyards, and pools, for godssake.

We can live anywhere, and we go where we like
Because this is America; go take a hike!

But lately, right here in the land of the free,
We are grieved and outraged to witness a spree
of injustice and hatred, applied wantonly
To us geese, by you humans: Murder, most fowl;
If we were suicidal, we’d throw in the towel.

They say we’re too plentiful and “could pose danger
to low-flying planes”; and what’s even stranger,
that our droppings are gross and our honks are too loud;
You think humans are perfect? You live on a cloud.

In New York, Carolina, and elsewhere in question,
The murder of Canada geese is clandestine:
With Machiavellian cunning and stealth
(Ostensibly acting to save public health),
Public employees close off public parks,
Round up dozens of geese, to be slaughtered at dark,
And when well-meaning humans approach them with questions,
They turn ’em away with threats to arrest ’em.
Our brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts
Are martyrs … for what? They don’t stand a chance.

So, to all of you humans who think you have might:
Don’t mess with these ganders; we’re ready to fight.
We’ll honk your injustices loud, and honk long,
And our weak will grow stronger with every known wrong.

To all fellow ganders and goslings and geese,
Repeat after me: 
“NO JUSTICE FOR GEESE!
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!"

And unless you would like to be shot, stuffed, and mounted,
Stand up on your own two webbed feet and be counted!

NO JUSTICE FOR GEESE!
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!
NO JUSTICE FOR GEESE!
NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!

© 2013 Granny Gander. All rights reserved.
Related articles

Foie Gras is “unEnglish” says Ralph Fiennes

Sorry for the unpleasantness, but … you’ve got to know what’s happening if you’re gonna do something about it, right?

Manar's avatarOf Course Vegan

Ralph Fiennes has appealed to Fortnum & Mason to stop selling foie gras – which is illegal to produce in the UK on animal welfare grounds. During foie gras production, huge amounts of grain are pumped into the stomachs of geese through metal pipes, which are forced down their throats several times a day. Their distended livers – which can swell to up to 10 times their normal size – press against their lungs, causing them to pant constantly. Veterinarians and avian experts agree – there is no humane way to produce foie gras.

In a letter sent to Fortnum & Mason Managing Director Ewan Venters, the BAFTA-winning actor writes the following:

“Animals and their welfare mean a lot to me and to the majority of the British public. . . . As managing director, you have the power to end the company’s involvement in this cruelty. I hope you…

View original post 193 more words

Family Outing: End of a Perfect Day

Sunning by the water

Sunning by the water

Earlier this month, I went on a family picnic with Fred, Mildred, Petunia, Harvey, Eric, Gracie, Harry, George, Xavier and Antoine. After flying down from the Sacramento Delta, we found a lush spot on San Francisco Bay near Brisbane. There was plenty of grass to eat, as well as those lovely salty seaweeds that grow at the shallow end near the shore. All the little ones got their fill. There were hardly any disagreeable people around, just a few dogs with their humans, but the dogs were on leashes and couldn’t chase us. The humans were busy walking around their silly concrete path, and didn’t pay much attention to us. The other birds were mostly friendly, although George did get into a brief scuffle with a black cormorant. Imagine the nerve–saying he owned a spot in the water! And I had to hiss at a young human who came too close to us during lunch. Other than that, the day was positively perfect.

We ended the day with a lovely sunset nap. The goslings were exhausted from all the fresh air and sun, and Harvey — well, that’s him, head tucked, fast asleep in the middle of the photo! I had to keep from honking out loud! (Harvey is such a dear, and he does his best to look after our brood when I’m preening or foraging.)

Crimes Against Goosanity: A Honk for Action

Well, I’m new to blogging, as you may know. I’ve always been talkative and noisy, especially when in transit (I’m the flight coach for my gaggle), but I love the new technology. My computer now has honk recognition, a great boon for us web-footers (keyboards are designed without any thought for those of us without the primate hand. Heck, even monkeys can type!). So maybe humans are evolving a teensy bit farther along than we give them credit for. But it’s still not enough.

But I’m getting’ off my flight path …

Photo by a Human Stalker

Photo by a Human Stalker

As I was honking, I’m new to blogging, and today I had my first real look around WordPress to see what others are honking about. Well, some folks are really smart and clever. They have all kinds of blogs about writing, crafts, photography, art, poetry, science, and the like. I’ll be straight with you. My favorite are blogs about non-humans, since IMCO (In My Considered Opinion), there are WAY too many humans honking about whatever, and WAY too few of us geese and other folks being represented. Some folks really don’t have anything important to say, but they go on and honk about it anyways. I don’t hold that against them. What I do hold against humans is criminal activity.

Yes, you heard me right. CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. MURDER, for starters.

And the worst part about it is they just go on and admit it; why, they even brag about it! For instance, there’s humans in the Basque Country—over in Spain— who torture and murder my cousins for sport. They kidnap and lynch dozens of my kin—just hang them up by their feet on a line over the river, still alive and terrorized—then a big, ugly, smelly man will stand in the river and grab one by her poor neck and hold on while some yayhoo yanks the rope so it pops up like an inverted bungee cord. They repeat this process over and over until my poor cousin’s neck is broken off and the dumb-ass man falls into the river. All the goons lined up on the riverbanks cheer and laugh, thinking it’s great sport. It’s nothing short of MURDER. And it’s condoned by humans. They keep doing it every year, and they don’t intend to ever stop. They ignore our honks for mercy and reason. If you don’t believe me, click on this link to see it for yourself.  Goosing Around … I’ve gotta warn you, it’s VERY GRAPHIC and DISTURBING and not suitable for the goslings.

I’m trying to organize a movement to stop this barbarian practice, but, being a goose, I don’t know how to honk in a way humans will hear. I need your help, so please honk your suggestions in the Comments section.

Thank You! Honk!