He sits in the hot tub
looking up
at the tall, palm trees
swaying in the breeze.

As the trees
sway in the breeze,
he can see Piestewa Peak
behind them,
across Route 51.

What fun!

It’s a beautiful sight —
trees, mountain and
desert birds in flight.

Soon he will be back
in Michigan where he
saw a short, plastic palm tree
in a yard with plastic, pink
flamingoes numbering three.

He’s sure they have a few
of those in Phoenix, too.

The real palms in Arizona,
though not native, have adapted
just right
and all are just the right height,

Just like all the living
trees
in Michigan,
at least according to a politician
who wanted to be
president but lost.
Was it time three?

No one seems to know why
he said that, but he was right.
The trees in Michigan
are just the right height.

But they are in Arizona, too.
I think everywhere, don’t you?

The trees are just the right
height — even the plastic
palm. But who knows
about those flamingoes?
Right height or no,
I think they have to go.