Auspicious
09.09.09
No more than a coffee, a croissant,
and folios of work on my desk— but
today, they say, brings portents— the chance
to jimmy the cosmic window open
just a little wider so perhaps
the slumbering third eye might awaken,
the nine-fold knot that begins somewhere
at the base of my spine might erupt
in a profusion of flowers all
the way to my scalp. Thus might I tune
in to the fragrant universe and
know, at last, its mysteries. And so
the astrologists with their Mayan
calendars, the numerologists
with their calculus of integers
are unveiling the hidden windfall
in the numbers on my gas receipt,
are encoding patterns on my tire
treads, or on the print of my carpet.
Half-moon cheeks of a fortune cookie
hide the smile of a dashing lover
or the location of paradise—
All I have to do now is make it
through the day without losing my keys,
my parking spot, my temper, my patience;
all I have to do is believe I’m
next, as the planets start lining up.
09.09.09
No more than a coffee, a croissant,
and folios of work on my desk— but
today, they say, brings portents— the chance
to jimmy the cosmic window open
just a little wider so perhaps
the slumbering third eye might awaken,
the nine-fold knot that begins somewhere
at the base of my spine might erupt
in a profusion of flowers all
the way to my scalp. Thus might I tune
in to the fragrant universe and
know, at last, its mysteries. And so
the astrologists with their Mayan
calendars, the numerologists
with their calculus of integers
are unveiling the hidden windfall
in the numbers on my gas receipt,
are encoding patterns on my tire
treads, or on the print of my carpet.
Half-moon cheeks of a fortune cookie
hide the smile of a dashing lover
or the location of paradise—
All I have to do now is make it
through the day without losing my keys,
my parking spot, my temper, my patience;
all I have to do is believe I’m
next, as the planets start lining up.
The Aztec moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui, sorceress
"who spoke to all centipedes and lizards,"
from the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City.
