Fortune Telling

Broken open, the fortune cookie says,
There are no short cuts
To any place worth going.

But I have cut many and cut
Short to leave him and him
And her and him
To get here.

The cookie may say,
Many short cuts
Make the path longer.

But I am here all the same,
Cut and brack,
Wild rose and blackberry,
Bramble scarred by sweetness.

Today we don’t brag scars
But salve them.
Make jam.

The long road,
The switchbacks
Go backward
Moving forward.

We know just where this leaves
Us, cancelling the length
Of the path.

2014