To all the unhoused folk in Los Angeles and beyond. 

Do you see the shopping cart?

It is there,
it’s been there for months.
It dares you to wonder.
Fíjate bien. Look closely.
—Mírame— te dice.“Look at me,” it beckons.
¿Lo escuchas? Do you hear it?

Shopping cart collector

There’s a man who collects shopping carts. His truck has a large cage around the bed. The cage is rusty and seems too large for the truck; it creaks and sways but doesn’t fall. Here, the shopping carts are gathered to be returned to the store.  

Shopping cart as found art

A shopping cart sits at the foot of the trail, perhaps because of the last “clean-up.” This is what they call it when they kick everyone out who has made a home in the hidden hills of Debs Park. Once I went off trail and into a camp and ran back the other way because I was scared.  

Shopping carts are upside down on the riverbed, on the sidewalk right side up. Someone managed to push these shopping carts off a grocery store parking lot. This has given the carts new life. 

Shopping carts become someone’s home on wheels  

Someone rolled this cart out to keep their belongings, their blankets, their treasured items. Someone carries their whole life in this shopping cart. The cart is full of a life, full of despair, full of hope for a safer home.  

Shopping cart as entertainment

One time when we were kids, my sisters and I saw a shopping cart on Riverside Avenue and took turns pushing each other until we got bored.  

Shopping carts stop global warming 

Some shopping carts are full of recyclables, like this one, used by a man on my block. I hear him roll into the parking lot of my building, where he sifts through trash for aluminum cans, plastic water bottles, and other discarded items. He hums, he is noisy, he annoys me sometimes. If I run into him as I am leaving, he gets out of the way. I give a tight-lipped smile. I am embarrassed for him, and for me to see him here.

At the recycling center on Eighth Street, there is a line. People queue up holding their recyclables. I see them on my way to work, past the camps and makeshift homes. Some shopping carts hold so many recyclables you can’t see the person behind them. Everyone waits and waits for a few dollars. The señoras collect as much as they can. They wheel around on trash day.

Shopping cart etiquette

Don’t get too close, leave some space between you and the person in front of the cart.
In front of you in front of the cart in front of them in front of the cart.
Shopping carts at Trader Joe’s, shopping carts at Target, shopping carts at Whole Foods. Shopping carts at Food 4 Less. Costco shopping carts!
If these shopping carts could talk!
Shopping carts left in prime parking spaces, so you have to get out of your car to move them or park farther away and walk.

Shopping cart memory

One time we got in trouble at the market. It was my mom and sisters and brother, and we asked for the name brand cereal, Sunny Delight instead of Tampico, and Lunchables too. Mami said no and grabbed the affordable store brand stuff, but sometimes she would say yes. The cart was full of fresh food at our local grocery in Maywood. What a treat to roll down the aisles, but we got rowdy and hit a lady, and she told our mom to watch her kids. We were embarrassed and so was she. After we quieted down, we rolled to the checkout line and didn’t ask for candies. We just stole one or two out of the bins and quietly stashed them in our pockets. We didn’t even ask for a quarter for the carousel outside. We walked back to the car, emptied the cart into the trunk. At home, we made a game of bringing in the groceries quickly, forgetting the mean lady who scolded our mom.

Shopping cart as small business

The tamalera wheels the shopping cart on weekend mornings.
“Tamales! Tamales de Puerco, de Pollo y de Queso, Tamales!!!!”
I hear her before I see her.

The elotero honks his horn. He has homemade ice cream, raspados, duritos, chips.
It is all arranged neatly in the cart. He grabs what you ask for, collects your money, and delivers your treat. 

Here comes the shopping cart. It is metal, it is gray, it is here and there and everywhere. 

Here comes the lady with the laundry in the cart. She wheels it to her apartment, and I wonder where she stores it.

Here comes the shopping cart that made it out of the grocery store lot.

Shopping cart, shopping cart, shopping cart. 

Shopping cart, hide.

Shopping cart doesn’t want to go back to the store carrying groceries, children.   

Shopping cart wants to be free, to live in the hills near the trees.

Here comes the man in the truck to take you back.
In you go, into the cage.