Every morning, he’d ride his bike right up to the knot of high school kids milling about the courtyard. Every morning, the same jeers began. He just smiled. A few years later, when bike riding caught on, no one remembered that he was the first.

He was older than the rest of us, temperamentally unsuited to attending class and therefore unable to graduate. By all accounts, brilliant. Definitely odd.

The last time we saw him, at a school concert, he surprised us by sitting down at the piano. They said he composed an ode for his sister who had died. As he played on and on, with the passion of a maestro, he found and broke our hearts.

vanishing act
the dagger
of raven’s shadow

Cynthia Anderson

A California resident and poet for more than 40 years, Cynthia Anderson is the author of 12 books, most recently Arrival (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2023). Her poems have been published widely in journals and anthologies, and she has received multiple nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Her recent work focuses on the natural world and her family history. She is co-editor of the anthology A Bird Black As the Sun: California Poets on Crows & Ravens (Green Poet Press).

Author’s website: www.cynthiaandersonpoet.com