i don't ever use shopping carts in grocery stores
i never have
they are unsettling
i do not like the way they feel beneath the palms of my hands
they are so grounding
you cannot just check out quickly and leave
if something comes up
they are anchors
you must commit
there is no mobility
i cannot use shopping carts
i cannot deal with the weight of commitment
i get a basket instead
it allows me to move about as i please –
able to be rid of it in a minute's notice if necessary
if plans change
and this world of ours is always changing

it makes me a little bit sad though
i will at least admit that
maybe some shopping carts are awful lonely
and they would like someone to commit to be their guides
through the hardships of being an
underappreciated subservient organism –
but i won't get close enough
i won't let my defenses down –
i can only glimpse the
brokenness beneath their
shiny plastic coverings
from tiny peek holes
dug into the walls
from within my self-protective cage
and I cannot promise them anything
because I have a need to be mobile
ingrained deep within my DNA
i allow myself to be
close but never attached