by Esther Velez (2014)

It's just a mechanical transportation method. 
It's a four door, five seater, six cylinder gas eater. 
It's been owned before but it's really not yours, it's your parents car. 
They let you use it whenever
So long as you bring it back before eleven. 
Your mom put a sticker on the back window
Of a yellow paw print.
And every time I see the paw print, my heart jumps. 
Every time I leave my house I look for that paw print,
For the hope that wherever I'm going,
You'll be there. 
But you never are. 

In this moment, it becomes more than a car.
It's a beacon of hope,
That you'll be where I'm going
And we can have a connection. 
You can break into my present
And we can share it, even if for a second
So we can say that we're connected. 
But it's been five years and 
you are
never 
where I'm going.