a lesson in crackpot fortune-telling:

the hafez date man speaks to me
in parables:
You have a good star in your fate
travelling is useful for you do not let
everybody, good or bad, know of
your secrets.
If someone takes action against you,
take good action for him in return.

the tarot calls you
a ruthless and selfish woman.
lover.

the hafez date man has shiny cheek bones.
his name a script
across his chest by a foreign hand,
gentle fingers,
slender quill.

the hafez date man wears his silk
suncoloured like lawrence of arabia---
poet
fool
prophet.

the tarot planted you in the future
like a hex and the future
is fenced by swords and crosses.

the tarot answered my questions
with questions, and

i look at the hafez date man
for clues. the havez date man looks
at the future: swords and crosses.
he would walk there anyway.
he would take a weapon
out of the ground.
he would use it
to make a gate.