language borrowed from one-star yelp reviews of cemeteries and funeral homes
I
the workers lowered my aunt like if she was a dog,
the casket hitting the sides–
for a moment i thought the casket was going
to open and she was going to fly out.
II
to whoever prepared my grandmother:
i’ve seen her sleeping and she looked nothing like she did in the coffin.
two of my nephews didn’t want to even approach the casket,
their mother told me they were scared.
the way her mouth looked–
i didn’t want to remember her like that. her lips were stretched thin.
III
if you’re burying a baby at forest lawn beware of over crowding. “baby land” as they call it, is very over crowded. the babies are buried almost one on top of each other. you can’t even place flowers without stepping on another baby’s grave site. when i complained about this to the person in charge of the cemetery, his response was, it’s not hurting them, they can’t feel you stepping on them.