Poetry Magazine
“Your Luck Is About To Change”
(A fortune cookie)
Ominous inscrutable Chinese news
to get just before Christmas,
considering my reasonable health,
marriage spicy as moo-goo-gai-pan,
career running like a not-too-old Chevrolet.
Not bad, considering what can go wrong:
the bony finger of Uncle Sam
might point out my husband,
my own national guard,
and set him in Afghanistan;
my boss could take a personal interest;
the pain in my left knee could spread to my right.
Still, as the old year tips into the new,
I insist on the infant hope, gooing and kicking
his legs in the air. I won't give in
to the dark, the sub-zero weather, the fog,
or even the neighbors' Nativity.
Their four-year-old has arranged
his whole legion of dinosaurs
so they, too, worship the child,
joining the cow and sheep. Or else,
ultimate mortals, they've come to eat
ox and camel, Mary and Joseph,
then savor the newborn babe.
Source: Poetry (December 2002).
MORE FROM THIS ISSUE
This poem originally appeared in the December 2002 issue of Poetry magazine
- December 2002 Table of Contents
- Subscribe to Poetry magazine
- About Poetry magazine
- This issue is sold out.
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Midlife, Religion, Living, Christianity
POET’S REGION U.S., Southwestern
If you disagree with this poem's categorization, make a suggestion.
Your results will be limited to content that appeared in Poetry magazine.
