16/30: A Fortune Cookie Mural in East Austin Reminds Me of Who I Am

by Zachary Caballero

This morning, a flat tire.

A nail got me in silence.
I could’ve compromised and collapsed in anger
i could’ve lost control and run off the road,
I could’ve welcomed ruin and speak ill of the day.
But I didn’t. A kindness from the universe.
The eternal optimist writes another verse
into the play.
Last night,
I pass by a wall with a fortune cookie mural

that reads,
You will allow yourself to be yourself again
and maybe it was talking about this moment,

when I had to decide, who I want to be,

or who I will let myself be, or who I want to

let myself be. I will tells me the future is
up the hill, bright as ever, beyond
shadow.