wings flare,

a nanosecond of hover,

and a deft drop onto the column —

the piling of a pier of years long past?

it waits with chin tucked to chest,

perhaps, to look down for fish,

or, perhaps, so that the fish in the water

can’t see the fish flapping in its pouch

or is that only in the cartoons?

long before I’d seen a pelican in person

they’d been popular on the cartoon shows

mind you, not as popular as the storks —

unitaskers who delivered animated babies

precariously — I might add — in loose linen bundles,

clenched into their pointy needle-beaks.

And I can’t remember how the storks landed

without impaling the baby with its pointy beak

or bouncing baby’s head off the ground.

Maybe, that’s why there are so many mentally defective cartoon characters:

e.g. Goofy, Ralph Wiggum, Patrick Star, Chris Griffin…

Not to mention the emotionally ill-adjusted ones:

e.g. Yosemite Sam, Eyore, Pepe LePew, Ariel,…

Because it’s all about sticking the landing.