Fortune Cookies
Fortune Cookies
My wall is covered in yesterday’s fortunes
And yesterday’s films
And yesterday’s plays
And memorable phrases.
My wall is covered in celebrities’ faces,
And in the white spaces,
The paint tries to peel,
To run away from the memories which I hardly remember.
Was that dinner in August or September?
Or May? December?
Was my mother there?
Is all that’s left of this only an ember?
When the fire has died,
And my thoughts aren’t clear,
And the only knowledge is
That it happened,
That the time was dear,
That the moment was happy,
But is no longer here?
And no longer do I fear the things I used to fear
Or remember
Anything beyond this final ember,
The fortune cookie fortunes tacked to my walls
Around the peeling paint
And the sticky note which falls
Leaving empty white space
For more paint to peel
Or for memories to be placed
And forgotten,
All this paper laid to waste
From the fortune cookie fortunes
Which can’t be displaced.