Fortune Cookie
Who knows how long that crisp-wannabe
confection huddled in the side pocket
of my car door, or what karmic labyrinth
brought me to this piebald prophesy,
my delight at my find bordering
on ridiculous, a gaggle of words
shrugged together like a kiss for luck
and damn if there isn’t a QR code
hoping to further enhance my fascination.
Hope can be a tough sell when so many
are suffering in the world. It’s easier to notice
what’s wrong than what’s right.
Across the street my neighbor’s wife
is dying, so, too, democracy
according to the media.
A paper strip of quivering letterforms
predicting the future is a hoot, right?—
a shameless self-indulgence,
a distraction from sorrow, a frivolity
to share with a friend, a cheeky
infatuation of farcical futility.
*
Kari Gunter-Seymour (she/her) is the Poet Laureate of Ohio and the author of three award-winning collections of poetry, including Dirt Songs (EastOver Press 2024) winner of the IPPY Bronze, NYC Big Book and Feathered Quill Awards. She is the Executive Director of the Women of Appalachia Project and editor of its anthology series Women Speak. Her work has been featured in a variety of journals and the American Book Review, Poem-a-Day, World Literature Today and The New York Times.
www.karigunterseymourpoet.com
I: karigunterseymour
Your poems are so playful and yet have depth and sincerity. Great poem, Kari!
Love those verbs – it tickled me to imagine the cookie huddling, the words “shrugged together.” We need all the good fortune and silly pleasures we can find these days. Sweet poem.