my grandmother died two weeks ago,
and my aunt organized her funeral
there’s a wake first
at a stale chapel in South San Francisco
with diamond-shaped roofing, pitched and lifted by wooden beams
wilted day-old flowers border the pews
high pile carpeting collecting years of dust
a condescending priest
who tells us not take Eucharist if we aren’t practicing Catholics
my eyes look to her casket and I imagine she is turning over already
we bury her in Colma next to my grandfather,
who survived the holocaust in ‘45
but could not survive a brain tumor in ‘82
she was 96 and her life was longer than his
i should find some comfort in that
Alicia Claire de Mello is a queer poet and writer born and raised in the Bay Area of California. Currently based in Los Angeles, her writing attempts to find a balance between explicit memories and metaphorical feelings.
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