A metaphor could save your life,
so let your imagination wander
next time you have the opportunity.
Affirm it, visualize it, believe it
when I tell you everything now
will come your way—
darkness when there is no light
at the end of the tunnel
a moment of awkwardness
in a Chinese bakery
an unexpected relationship
with an alien of some sort
whose fortune is as sweet
as a cookie you never tried before.
There are no shortcuts to any place
worth going. No matter what
your past has been, face facts
with dignity. Smile,
and order takeout. Otherwise,
nothing will change and you will
be hungry soon. Until you stop trying,
you can't naturally feel upbeat.
If you want the rainbow,
go confidently in the direction
of rain. The last thing you want
is to upset the penguin today
if the love of your life is sitting
across from you. Be prepared.
The only true adventure,
the important thing, is working out
the kinks. Better to be the head
of a chicken than the tail of an ox.
But word to the wise:
It never pays to kick a skunk
even if life is a dance floor.
© 2015 Maureen E. Doallas
This poem, including its title, is made up primarily of fortune cookie sayings (I did have to add a couple of bridge words here and there) that I've combined or recombined in various ways. I thank the Fortune Cookie Database for its still-growing number of pages of fortunes.
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2 comments:
Delightful tour de force.
I'm noticing how many of your poems these days scavenge popular language for their phrases. You're finding plenty of lines out there that can make a poem when creatively assembled. How ecologically astute! You recycle already used words and make something new of them.
What fun! I like your 'found' poem -- and appreciate the eye/heart that is always on the lookout for poetry.
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