Collective Nouns Poem by Gregory H. Wlodarski

Names for groups, collective nouns they are,
In our speech their usefulness goes very far.

For horses you know, the collective noun or word,
This collective noun, as you know is the HERD.

Groups of oxen and cattle called also a HERD,
But a DROVE by some may be preferred.

Here listed are a few others, my lexicon supplying,
Geese standing are a GAGGLE, but are a FLOCK when flying.

Oddly enough flying geese are geese FLOCKING,
But a FLOCK of sheep flying, that would be shocking.

Chicks so cute and yellow, are soft to the touch,
And when chirping together, are called a CLUTCH.

Chicks that grow up, to be hens full grown,
Become hens together, as a BROOD are known.

Quail, doves and swans numbering many,
May be a FLOCK but are always a BEVY.

For a TROOP of monkeys, another term survives,
When living together they're living in TRIBES.

Then there's the whale, that travels in a POD,
Also do dolphins, but not the tuna or cod.

Fish of most kinds, would fit in your pool,
Studying or at recess, they're still a SCHOOL.

Though bees in a SWARM are often flying
A SWARM of ants, attacking may be trying.

Then there's the dog, our very best friend.
In a PACK they wander, and each other do tend.

But for adult dogs, a PACK, is so called,
While it's a LITTER, for pups hairy or bald.

Those male lions and their many brides,
Not herds or flocks but boastfully PRIDES.

A most unusual term, a word that cannot escape,
Is the word for group or a gathering of ape.

This term is the oddest you're likely to have heard,
Their grouping is SHREWDNESS, that's truly the word.

Though shrewd is the mind that is keen and sharp witted,
And shrewdness is the act from such a mind committed,

But when these primates are grouping as a bunch of grapes,
They're not called a pod or pack but a SHREWDNESS of apes.