sum dum goy

we had the sweetest dinner
chicken thighs with candlelight, segovia 
rice, carrots, hall and oates 
a father and a son
a mother and a daughter
all four as dear friends in ease

after tea and mancala came the fortune cookies
individually wrapped
in the junk drawer since god knows when
but by the taking now made new 

you three had prescient messages
i’d chosen the middle of them from your hand
removed the plastic and could see right away
through it’s cracked center
there was no fortune
no way you all said so i crushed it in my palm
to reveal emptiness

i might know everything
i might be dead already
i might be granted permission 
to compose the advice i'll heed 
or probably there was a skip on the machine