We think every cookie is full of good luck. Especially when they’re full of chocolate chips! Messages of good fortune aren’t be limited to a particular type of cookie. With every bite, the warmth of freshly baked cookies tell us everything’s gonna be alright.
Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here is part of a poem from Darlene we enjoyed:
cut the corners
of paper pouches, dry
chocolate pudding poofs! across
forearms as hand-mixer spins
’round ’round ’round
milk jug splattered brown. slop
full the thin tin pan’s graham cracker
store bought crust
New York School poet Frank O’Hara, crafted a witty, tongue-in-cheek poem based on the little paper predictions inside fortune cookies. Watch this video-reading of “Lines For the Fortune Cookies” or read along here:
I think you’re wonderful and so does everyone else.
Just as Jackie Kennedy has a baby boy, so will you–even bigger.
You will meet a tall beautiful blonde stranger, and you will not say hello.
You will take a long trip and you will be very happy, though alone.
You will marry the first person who tells you your eyes are like scrambled eggs.
In the beginning there was YOU–there will always be YOU, I guess.
You will write a great play and it will run for three performances.
Please phone The Village Voice immediately: they want to interview you.
Roger L. Stevens and Kermit Bloomgarden have their eyes on you.
Relax a little; one of your most celebrated nervous tics will be your undoing.
Your first volume of poetry will be published as soon as you finish it.
You may be a hit uptown, but downtown you’re legendary!
Your walk has a musical quality which will bring you fame and fortune.
You will eat cake.
Who do you think you are, anyway? Jo Van Fleet?
You think your life is like Pirandello, but it’s really like O’Neill.
A few dance lessons with James Waring and who knows? Maybe something will happen.
That’s not a run in your stocking, it’s a hand on your leg.
I realize you’ve lived in France, but that doesn’t mean you know EVERYTHING!
You should wear white more often–it becomes you.
The next person to speak to you will have a very intriguing proposal to make.
A lot of people in this room wish they were you.
Have you been to Mike Goldberg’s show? Al Leslie’s? Lee Krasner’s?
At times, your disinterestedness may seem insincere, to strangers.
Now that the election’s over, what are you going to do with yourself?
You are a prisoner in a croissant factory and you love it.
You eat meat. Why do you eat meat?
Beyond the horizon there is a vale of gloom.
You too could be Premier of France, if only … if only…
—by Frank O’Hara
POETRY PROMPT: Gather inspiration from Frank O’Hara and write your very own fortune cookie poem—made up of words of wisdom, pop culture references, and cheeky expressions. Bring along some cookies for support. 😉
Photo by Ginny. Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Heather Eure.
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Sometimes we feature your poems in Every Day Poems, with your permission of course. Thanks for writing with us!
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Simply Darlene says
Oh, this has Maureen written all over it. 🙂 The master slogan, brand, title, candybar varieties, and catchphrase master!
Here’s my try with phrases (both slang and homegrown), songs, and movie clips from my growing up years.
Conversation with grandpa:
Bring me my teeth, they’re on the bathroom counter.
What do ya want for dinner, grandpa?
Pie and cake and t-bone steak, missy.
Fine, I’ll work my fingers to the bone
from daybreak ’til sundown
when the rooster crows and the moon dips low.
What do ya want for dessert, grandpa?
Pie and cake and t-bone steak, missy.
Don’t monkey around.
Do you wanna taste Ivory soap?
Go ahead and make my day.
Don’t make me show you who’s boss.
Everybody’s gotta get footloose, footloose.
Until you pay rent, you live by my rules, missy.
Daddy sang base, mama sang tenor, me and little brother would join right in there.
Girl, you can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
—
Conversation with mom:
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Shhh. Listen, do you smell something?
It’s the bacon – I brought it home and fried it up in the pan.
Are you going out looking like that?
Yes, I walked barefoot to school, uphill both ways,
I deserve a little R&R.
Could your skirt get any shorter?
You won’t know until you try.
Who’s going to be at the party? What’s the number?
Jesse. He’s a good friend of mine. Jenny, don’t change your number –
867-5309
867-5309
867-5309
What are you going to do?
We’re going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married.
Shhh, baby’s sleeping.
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Alrighty, then. Don’t take any wooden nickels.
Maureen Doallas says
Darlene, I don’t know that I can live up to that description!
Richard Maxson says
Darlene, this brings back so many memories, except for the skirt in my case.
So eventually I guess you left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin’ out on the line? 🙂
SimplyDarlene says
it’s funny how songs of my childhood era co-mingled with one’s from my mom’s. and yes, i left the suds in the bucket… ah, haven’t heard that one in a while.
Maureen Doallas says
Those of us of a certain age recognize the soap-in-the-mouth reference. Parents!
Fun collection, Darlene!
SimplyDarlene says
thanks, maureen.
Elizabeth Marshall says
Darelene, you took me on a whirlwind journey through much of my youth. Love the pie poem too. You had me in the kitchen with you.
great day, i like your poetry.
Donna says
Oh, this was fun… you really took me back, too!
Simply Darlene says
And, thank ye kindly for including my poem portion in today’s prompt. What fun to find it here!
🙂
My favs from the long poem up top:
“You will eat cake.”
“You eat meat? Why do you eat meat?”
Donna says
Darlene, I love your chocolate pudding poofs… even more tasty this week for some reason! I mean, you flavored the air… who does that? Yesterday I was fighting an urge to buy chocolate pudding mix in the grocery store – now I know why. You put the chocolate pudding poofs in my head!
I really love the fortune cookie poem. We love our fortune cookies around here and always categorize them – fortune cookie, advice cookie, statement cookie, and a few weeks ago – for the first time – comedy cookie. It said “How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.” 😉
SimplyDarlene says
wait until you see me make a green smoothie without the lid on the blender – chocolate pudding poofs! don’t stand a chance. 😉
i have culinary issues.
Maureen Doallas says
With apologies to Frank O’Hara . . . and my thanks to the Fortune Cookie Database:
Tomorrow Is Another Day
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 us 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 dance floor.
Richard Maxson says
Maureen, a veritable cookie sheet; the fortune canon. I love the ending.
Elizabeth Marshall says
Delightful.You achieve balance and order in the randomness. ♡
Bethany Rohde says
I had a lot of fun reading your poem. Loved the enjambment in: “the important thing, is working out/ the kinks.”
Donna says
Love this… and the fortune about the rainbow is terrific. I consider myself one who googles with abandon, but I never would have thought to google in search of a Fortune Cookie Data Base! 🙂 Impressive!
SimplyDarlene says
fortune cookie database? really?
maureen – what fun! all of those are new to me. i rather like the skunk (who gets close enough to kick a skunk? i depart at the first whiff) and the penguin lines. 🙂
Maureen Doallas says
Yep! The marvel of the Internet is that it has everything (almost).
Richard Maxson says
Fortunes
When we moved they were lost,
the fortunes I had saved
that seemed to mean something.
“Suppose you get what you want,”
read the first one; I taped it to the wall,
then each new one of significance
under that, like a ladder leading to the first.
There is no one here who knows me.
The trees on the manicured streets are small and bare,
there are no songs in the branches.
Someone brought cookies; rang the bell
as I was digging in boxes for the small
clip that held them tightly, the small,
flags of inspiration, steps I freed from their brittle shells.
Maureen Doallas says
This is elegiac and lovely, Richard. I like how you relate the ladder in the second stanza to the steps in the last, creating that sense that we can try to build on our fortunes, even as we know how brittle fortune is (nice relationship, too, of fortune cookies to brittle shells). I especially like “… small,/ flags of inspiration” and again, that sense of how fleeting life can be.
Richard Maxson says
Thank you Maureen!
Elizabeth Marshall says
There are no songs in the branches.
Haunting. This sets the tone for the poem for me. Anchors it in loneliness.
Richard Maxson says
Thank you for reading and commenting, Elizabeth.
SimplyDarlene says
the title and the first line would look awesome on a poetry book cover 😉
Richard Maxson says
Hmmmm, I’ll have to remember that. Thanks for commenting, Darlene.
Bethany Rohde says
Thank you for sharing your moving poem. One of my favorite parts is:
“There is no one here who knows me.
The trees on the manicured streets are small and bare,”
Donna says
Small flags of insipiration… no one here that knows me… there is a lot of emotion in this poem.
I save the papers, too, but now I save them in my camera. They are such little gifts.
Elizabeth Marshall says
COOKIES
Around the block in search of buyers
Of thin mints
Turns out I would sell until I was blue
In the face
Around town in search of buyers
Not in my Wheelhouse
Or up my alley
Cats in the cradle and yo-yo’s
More my cup of tea
Convo’s over Oreo’s with my Dad
He didn’t dunk ’em
No sir ree, he drowned ’em
Flat out sunk ’em to the bottom
Of a watery white grave
You sunk my battleship
You’d better get down here this instant
Toll House Cookies
1970’s crack
Open that bag
Of Lay’s (if you prefer salty to sweet)
Bet you can’t eat just one
Just eat everything on your plate
If you want to be excused
There are children starving in Africa
Turn down that boob tube
Now off to bed
Night night sleep tight
Don’t let the bedbugs bite
No rest for the weary
You know how your bread is buttered
Money does’t grow on trees
Crack the door, leave it ajar
And leave the hall light on
Now I lay me down
to sleep
Maureen Doallas says
“Toll House Cookies / 1970s crack”: made me laugh.
Lots of fun.
SimplyDarlene says
“just eat everything on your plate
if you want to be excused”
maketh me laugh for a number of reasons 😉
SimplyDarlene says
mainly because when we picked up the plates and licked ’em clean we were reprimanded. i guess there’s no excuse for wanting every last morsel.
Richard Maxson says
So much fun to read this and reminisce. I do remember vividly, “There are children starving in Africa.” To which I smart-assedly replied, “fine, send them my broccoli.”
Donna says
A real collection of many slices of life. Such fun to read – nostalgia and relationship. Really nice.
By the way, you made me laugh with the oreos… my father taught my boys to eat oreos by scraping the frosting off with their teeth and tossing the cookie remains over their shoulders. There secret was safe until I found little dark chocolate circles all over our little house. 🙂
Sandra Wirfel says
ALl of you are awesome, I read and laughed, and laughed and laughed, thank you for making my afternoon so pleasant.
Donna says
🙂
Donna says
Finally, these photos are no longer jusst taking up space! I knew I’d need them someday and now, today, they’ve built a poem. Here is a link to the visual images which gave me this found poem (am I using the term correctly? Found Poem?)
http://thebrightersideblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/middle-sister.html
And here is the text only version:
Middle Sister
Look around-
happiness is trying to catch you,
Middle Sister.
Ergo,
forget the Little Black Dress.
Dip your
Primal Roots into
Monkey Bay!
Dance
the Funky Llama,
Barefoot
in the Rainstorm!
Let the
Pendulum swing.
Look around-
happiness is trying to catch you,
Middle Sister.
The situation is changeable
but you cannot push the river.
Sweet Bliss
Dialed In
from the Cloudline and
left a message with the Dreaming Tree for you~
“All you have is today-There is no such thing asYesterday or tomorrow.”
Look around – happiness is trying to catch you,
Middle Sister.
Donna says
I did eat the cookies, but didn’t drink that wine – (well, not all of it)… I just photographed it! The bottles were so pretty and the names were filled with possibilities. 🙂
Magdalena Ball says
This is so fresh and playful, Donna, with its intimate address to “Middle Sister” (middle child, little sister, fellow female all come to mind). I especially like “Dip your/Primal Roots into/Monkey Bay!” (though you might leave out the exclamation mark since it’s already vibrant with motion and rhythm). Being a verbal type I prefer the text poem to the images (though one image would make a very cool book cover or accompaniment) – your repetitions, structuring and placements make this a delight to read.
Donna says
Thank you, Magdalena. I’m so glad you enjoyed it… and I wondered about that exclamation point… it was on, off, on, off, on… 🙂 Your feedback is much appreciated.
Donna says
Yes… it works better without !
My mom taught me, with leftovers, when in doubt throw it out. I think it might be the same with exclamation points!
Monica Sharman says
Prophecy Fulfilled
After his last lo-mein serving
he cracked open the folded cookie
for the message inside. Surprised
and delighted, full from five round
servings of cha siu bao, he waddled
across the street and drawled
his order: pepperoni, double cheese
and looked down at his good fortune
folded in his palm:
A large pizza is in your future.
Maureen Doallas says
Good one! I feel stuffed just reading it.
Bethany Rohde says
This made me smile, Monica. I especially liked: “he waddled/ across the street and drawled”
Donna says
Love this… and love the way the title is connected to the last line.
Richard Maxson says
Hmmmm. The fortune cookie he left on the table, probably said a treadmill is in your future. I’m skipping lunch after reading this. Great visceral accomplishment in this one.
Robbie Pruitt says
Fortune
When split
The two halves
Revealed
The whole message
Concealed
Encased in sweet
Shielded
The sliver of text
Of what was next
Providence
Beyond prospect
Was never expected
© January 31, 2015, Robbie Pruitt
Magdalena Ball says
(extra bonus points if you find Frank here, and apologies if my HTML doesn’t come through – can’t preview first to check)
Cruel Fortune
When was it you handed me that broken cookie with its
flapping paper tail?
I held it to my ear, like a conch shell
heard, against the odds, the sea
roaring like a backdrop to our dinner
fortune tickling lobe
hope splashing the shore of my head
like breaking waves.
Mott Street dim sum
the world our fortune cookie
beautiful diners glittering
like immortals
dressing up the room
drinking too much
you on wine at midday
me, always the prude, drowning
in jasmine tea
burning cigarettes like miniature suns
promising so much
leaving so little.
Pursue your dreams
with vigour
you read, again and again
like a shiny phonograph
the best of all my days
that pretty mouth
shooting smoke rings
going on and on
in my dreams.
I had no idea how risky
it was
what hubris, taking fortune
into my lips
letting crumbs stain
my best silk
while you slipped
with no warning
out the door.
gassingon says
Chocolate chip calls her name out loud
She calls his name right back
She finds him in the hiding place
And on him she will snack..