New Lines for Fortune Cookies
By 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.

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.