We Without Cars

We without cars

Buy tori-q sticks and onigiri for a child to eat in the pram

As we rush from class to class,

From bus stop to train

To bus and back again, lifts and ramps and lifts,

Clattering madly over half-eaten lunch

We without cars

Arrive moist from the sun,

Shoulders lopsided from school bags and laptops and groceries

Our children collapse at rest stops

Our knees buckle against train doors

They with cars disappear into them as into futuristic homes

They rest in the cool somewhere far that cars park

Unknown, faceless behind uv-shield screens

While we without cars wait for hours on the same bench

Getting to know each other’s names, where you live, the faces of your other children

Maybe even walk to the train station together and let our kids pick leaves along the way

Share a seat, take a photo

Yell goodbye as the train doors slide

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From 2023-2024, T attended the EIPIC program at Rainbow Centre, tucked behind a park connector and several churches at Margaret Drive. Four times a week we shuttled her from her kindergarten at Kembangan to Queensway, missing Chinese lessons just to make it in time, without a car.