The Sand Hill Review http://www.sandhillreview.org 2004

San Francisco runs vintage streetcars from around the world on Market Street. The streetcar named Desire was purchased from New Orleans, where that city had ceased using it despite its status as a cultural legend.

Desire

for the Streetcar

Today I saw Desire

darkly painted steel, hard bells

wheels and unseen motivation.

In the morning traffic she is thick

with patches and paint,

only a streetcar

keeping to the track

lumbering.

Little hints at her whirling colors

restless forces in the night

heat driven engine that

gave her name.

Speeding past are carelessness

surface movements

cars full of assumptions.

We are refuge, strangers,

keeping our promise to her

this time remembering kindness

touching our hands to

the flame. Not drawing back.

Jewelle Gomez