whales on stilts/a whale on stilts

[Hillary Brown]

I've been trying to locate the origin of this phrase, which appears in a
poem in the most recent issue of the New Yorker (titled "Alien vs. Predator"
and readable here:
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2009/01/12/090112po_poem_robbins)<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2009/01/12/090112po_poem_robbins>

There was also a children's/YA book a few years ago by M.T. Anderson titled
_Whales on Stilts_ (
http://www.amazon.com/Whales-Stilts-Andersons-Thrilling-Tales/dp/0152053409
).

Google and Lexis-Nexis turn up a few other instances, but no luck with an
origin yet. Clearly, it's meant to signify something unwieldy and fairly
ridiculous, but who came up with it?

hb

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