On road trips to the motherland

in a cooped up minivan—

sometimes only my brother and sisters

Other times tias y tios, abuelitas y primas y primos también

we drove through the night in rural country

our headlights and maybe a trucker or two

Were the only people on the long road to the border

in between naps I would look out the window

the only light outside the minivan

was the moon and the stars

and my mother told me

that’s your grandfather right there

Among the stars

she told me when we die

we get to join our ancestors up in the sky

and look down on us as stars

Header image by Richie Requena