Tom Russell

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Street Light

Squadrons of Sopwith Camels
silently dog-fighting at an altitude
of maybe thirty feet. Barely
avoiding midair collisions and none
gets shot down in smoke and flames.

The battle is set to the music
of stars singing background vocals
for the moon. Crickets report
what they see from their positions
on the ground.

A cat takes one slow
predator step closer to the pole
then darts off opposite direction
at full speed.

My wife calls me in
before I become collateral damage.

Tom Russell works for the Omaha Public Library in Omaha, Nebraska. He quit writing poetry for 30 years and hopes to write for the next 30.