N                     ew Lines for Fortune Cookies
B                     y James Masao Mitsui

      - a                     fter Frank O'Hara

Y                     ou have been smiling across the table at your date
w                     ith a sesame seed stuck in your teeth.

Y                     ou will gain sophistication, become accepted by Reader’s
D                     igest, and retire in Puyallup.

I                     n your next life you will be a teacher
a                     nd no one will ever call you by your first name.

A                     fter your next vacation you will come home
a                     nd discover that your neighbors have redecorated
i                     n the style of Iowa trailer court.

I                     f you feel like you’re getting old,
s                     ecretly plant zucchini in your neighbor’s flowerbeds.

A                     void people who iron their sheets
o                     r roll their socks & underwear.

P                     ainting and poetry and music will show us where we should
b                     e going, not the senate or tv news.

T                     he next thermos bottle you see will actually
b                     e a listening device made in Korea.

A                     ll the people in this restaurant
a                     re glad that they are not you.