Going Grave Hopping. by Melanie Browne

I take my parents

visiting grave sites

of family and friends,

my sister calls it

"grave hopping" and

that makes me laugh

It also makes me

feel much older than I am,

and that is fine too,

but not the Texas heat-

we buy fake flowers at

hobby lobby and some

Texas flags too but two

of the dearly departed

have crypts and there

isn't much room

for grave "knickknacks,"

I leave flowers for

my brother and my pastor

and his wife

but can't find my

great grandmother's grave

in an old cemetery off of

MLk Blvd in Dallas,

we drive in circles and

sometimes in reverse

horrified my tires will veer

too far to the left or

too close to the right

I don't want to leave

a bad impression

Melanie Browne is a poet and fiction writer living in Texas. She has been published in various journals and 

online literary magazines such as Pulp Metal Magazine. She has also been included in several anthologies, 

including Zombies Galore and Everyday poets 2.