Totem Pole

I put an animal on an animal

which I put onto the animal I had already stacked

on top of my first animal and stood back

to appraise my work only

it looked much too short despite the number

of animals I had gathered, and I felt tired and silly

and disappointed, slumping to my knees, rocking

back onto my bum, then lying down to stare

into the hoary sky until my eyeballs softened

and I was forced by the consistent light

to close them and listen to the animals taking

a surprisingly long time to disorganize themselves.