Cynthia Anderson
Cynthia Anderson has published eleven poetry collections, most recently Full Circle (Cholla Needles, 2022). Her poems appear frequently in journals and anthologies, and she is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She makes her home in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Park. http://www.cynthiaandersonpoet.com
The Final Wall
Thorough to the last, my parents
make their arrangements,
then take my brother and me
to their resting place:
a columbarium,
stacked rows of boxes
like lockers at an airport
or bus station—a token lawn,
traffic in the background.
As we drive the gauntlet,
the car fills with sadness—
the certainty that the anger
and agony of our family
will end—and that my parents
do this so we can visit them
when they’re ash behind metal.
Please accept my regrets.
I won’t return to this place of ghosts.
You’ll find me wherever I am.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 