Shall We Take A Vote? – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw 


a dazzle of zebras
a tower of giraffes
and the alligators gathering
        a congregation

how did these words arrive
and who says we can't 
extend the collectives

I'm voting for a blaze of 
cherry tomatoes

still sunwarm at dusk
a party in every bite

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

I first learned about a dazzle of zebras on a trip to Kenya in 2023. What a great word. This poem led me down a rabbit hole to learn more about the history of collective nouns. Here is a fun article if you are curious, A Shrewdness of Apes? Collective Nouns Are a 500-Year-Old Language Fad

Join a welcoming community of poets
at dVerse Poets' Pub, HERE. Tonight's challenge - write a quadrille using the word blaze.

32 thoughts on “Shall We Take A Vote? – Poem by Ali Grimshaw”

  8. I love it! I enjoy collective nouns. And no one says you can’t make up your own. I like your choice for blaze.

    You inspired me to look back through posts I’ve written about collective nouns. Here are a few fun ones: https://experiencewriting.com/2014/11/08/exploring-collective-pronouns/

    https://experiencewriting.com/2018/02/12/review-a-compendium-of-collective-nouns/

    https://experiencewriting.com/2021/04/06/fun-with-collective-nouns/

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  12. A murder of crows is three or more.

    Two crows is merely a mugging.

    A single crow is an assassin.

    I’ll vote for a “BLAZE” of cherry tomatos, but I think it should be in all caps.

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  15. I’m a sucker for collective nouns, real and imagined, Ali, and have been since discovering them at school. I love ‘a dazzle of zebras’ but I too would vote for a ‘blaze of cherry tomatoes’!

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