New Lines for Fortune Cookies
By James Masao Mitsui

     You have been smiling across the table at your date
     with a sesame seed stuck in your teeth.

     You will gain sophistication, become accepted by Reader’s
     Digest, and retire in Puyallup.

     In your next life you will be a teacher
      and no one will ever call you by your first name.

     After your next vacation you will come home
     and discover that your neighbors have redecorated
     in the style of Iowa trailer court.

     If you feel like you’re getting old,
     secretly plant zucchini in your neighbor’s flowerbeds.

     Avoid people who iron their sheets
     or roll their socks & underwear.

     Painting and poetry and music will show us where we should
     be going, not the senate or tv news.

     The next thermos bottle you see will actually
     be a listening device made in Korea.

     All the people in this restaurant
     are glad that they are not you.