Celebrate Yard Fowls!
Former Barbados prime minister, Erskine Sandiford, is quoted as describing a yard fowl in the following way:
“These birds are not caged but are unswervingly loyal to their captors who they never run away from. Tragically, their loyalty costs them their lives because they will ultimately be eaten. Nonetheless they will not flee, even though they can fly.”
Good definition. I would add that you only have to give yard fowls any old scraps of food and they will follow you blindly no matter what.
Either way, yard fowl seems like the right word to describe some of the loyal supporters of Barbadian political parties.
But for some reason the term has acquired a negative connotation. I for one would love to be surrounded by yard fowls all the time. Who wouldn’t? Life would be so much easier if your business and personal contacts were all yard fowls.
Picture this. You work for a company that manufactures chairs. One of your retailers says publicly that your chairs have too much metal in them which can cause back problems. Until this situation is rectified, they will not be buying any chairs from your company. If you are surrounded by yard fowls you can choose to belittle this situation and even suggest that what seems like unwanted publicity will actually benefit your company. There will be no repercussions. Your yard fowl business associates will cluck among themselves but they will continue to follow you blindly. Who wouldn’t want yard fowl business associates.
How about this? You and your friends have a time share at a resort where you take an annual vacation from say August 8th to 14th. In fact you’re looking forward to your next vacation so much that you would prefer the August 1st to 7th time sharers to vacate the place before their time is up so you can get started on vacationing. If your friends are yard fowls, they will agree with you even though the time share contract is specific. They’ll flap around you and start calling in unison for the other time sharers to cut their stay early. Having yard fowl friends seems like it would be wonderful.
Those are just random examples but you see my point. Yard fowls have gotten a bad rap and should instead be celebrated. In fact I’ve written a song to celebrate the misunderstood yard fowls. It’s set to the tune of Lil Rick’s Hard Wine so sing along with me.
Good god.
A new kinda fowl den
Politicians got wanna good
Somebody say something bout yard fowl
Cluck like a fowl
Cluck like a fowl
Cluck like a fowl
Cluck like a fowl
Ok ok
Run as if yuh hear a dog growl
Like a fowl fowl fowl fowl fowl fowl fowl fowl
Run blindly about
Sense? Do without
Yard fowl. Yard fowl
Yuh price is pudding and souse
But you don’t even own a house
Yard fowl. Yard fowl
If you see them puff up them chest and open up they mouth
Is only yard fowl-isms them about to spout
But MPs making fools of yard fowls
Use like tools the yard fowls
Ride like mules the yard fowls
Then take a stool on yard fowls
And even though they lives don’t improve when them party in the house
Yard fowl. Yard fowl. Yard fowl. Yard fowl.
Yuh think when them party do nonsense they would shut up them mouth? No!
Yard fowl. Yard fowl
Making fools of yard fowls
Use like tools the yard fowls
Ride like mules the yard fowls
Take a stool on yard fowls
Yard fowl. Yard fowl. Yard fowl. Yard fowl.
On careful re-reading of my lyrics, it’s possible I don’t celebrate yard fowls after all.
