Manhattan Skyline

Manhattan Skyline
- for five year olds &; upwards

The aim of this game is for each player,
using just a thumb and finger,
to take one of three wooden blocks

that comprise a floor of the tower
then place it on top of the rest.
With each player's turn

the tower grows higher,
less stable, till the last
attempt to remove and replace

within these simple rules
inevitably brings down the lot
as a crash of piled-up laughter.

Families watch tv where planes
and towers eat into each other
beneath a clear blue sky

that framed the blocks of Manhattan.
Hold your breath, between
thumb and finger; gently

as a wooden block twice removed;
pray to whichever gods are to hand,
while the world drops from heaven,

that these towers shall never fall.