A single-engine biplane
Sputtered and crashed
Into the gated Boca Bath
And Tennis Club, clipping
A stand of trees, and narrowly
Missing the Olympic pool.
Residents observed it
in very slow motion
Come down.
It clipped the tall palms
To the west of the pool
Then glanced off the power tower,
A witness, from his townhouse, said.
I thought it was going to land
On my deaf husband’s head,
Said an elderly resident
Who was stealing day lilies
From a communal Flower Garden.
According to another man
The biplane quietly dropped from the sky
Hit the ground, bounced once,
Flipped, and landed on its back
Between two mammoth Georgia pines
Then the pilot dropped out,
More or less, unharmed
I almost made it,
the bruised pilot sobbed.