Smart cookie

The fortune that you seek is in another cookie,

was my fortune. So I'll be equally frank: the wisdom

That you covet is in another poem. The life that you desire 

Is in a different universe. The cookie you are craving 

Is in another jar. The jar is buried somewhere in Tennessee.

Don't even think of searching for it. If you found that jar, 

Everything would go kerflooey for a thousand miles around.

It is the jar of your fate in an alternate reality.  Don't even

Think of living that life. Don't even think of eating that cookie.

Be a smart cookie: eat what's on your plate, not in some jar

In Tennessee. That's my wisdom for today, though I know 

It's not what you were looking for.

–Richard Schiffman