Whoever stood at the helm 
of the cable car going down Market 
is invisible—but the movie camera 
held there caught the stares 
and indifference of the living—
the bicyclist turning his head, 
gentlemen tending their hats, 
stray women in ankle-length dress. 
Autos swerve past horse-drawn wagons 
caught in the collision of two centuries. 
The thoroughfare seems wide as the sea 
with the ebb and flow of humanity—
as though no time has passed 
and the city never cracked or burned. 
At the Ferry Building—the end 
of the line—the cable car turns 
before the reel cuts short. 

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