The poles that twist together to form the main support were not easy to work with.  I could not get all the pieces of pole to twist together all the way. I tried various combinations of the poles to see if I could get them completely lined up.  No luck. Therefore the main pole support is a bit skew and not straight. I gave 3 stars because the lamp does work.  However, if you have this in a prominent place, or want a lamp that isn't slightly slanted, then this is not the lamp for you. We just wanted this to light up our daughter's music stand in the basement.