New Lines for Fortune Cookies

James Masao Mitsui

     

after Frank O'Hara

     

You have been smiling across the table at your date

          

with a sesame seed stuck in your teeth.

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You will gain sophistication, become accepted by Reader’s

          

Digest, and retire in Puyallup.

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In your next life you will be a teacher

          

and no one will ever call you by your first name.

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After your next vacation you will come home

          

and discover that your neighbors have redecorated

               

in the style of Iowa trailer court.

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If you feel like you’re getting old,

          

secretly plant zucchini in your neighbor’s flowerbeds.

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Avoid people who iron their sheets

          

or roll their socks & underwear.

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Painting and poetry and music will show us where we should

          

be going, not the senate or tv news.

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The next thermos bottle you see will actually

          

be a listening device made in Korea.

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All the people in this restaurant

          

are glad that they are not you.