"First published in the United States of America by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1997""-T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-202).

The undertaking -- Gladstone -- Crapper -- The right hand of the Father -- Words made flesh -- The Golfatorium -- Mary & Wilbur -- Sweeney -- All Hallows' Eve -- Uncle Eddie, Inc. -- Jessica, the hound and the casket trade -- Tract.

A National Book Award finalist, this collection of unique essays "brims with humanity, irreverence, and invigorating candor" ("The Nation").

"Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople." So opens this singular testimony. Like all poets, inspired by death, Thomas Lynch is, unlike others, also hired to bury the dead or to cremate them and to tend to their families in a small Michigan town where he serves as the funeral director. In this unique collection of essays, the two vocations meet as Lynch shows himself to be a competent functionary of mourning--dispensing comfort and homespun wisdom to the grief-stricken--as well as a poet poignantly tuning language to the right tones of private release. In its homages to parents who have died and to children who shouldn't have, its tales of golfers tripping over grave markers, portraits of gourmands and hypochondriacs, lovers and suicides, The Undertaking displays a wide vocal range, from solemn, nostalgic and lyrical to acerbic, sprightly, and unflinchingly professional.--From publisher description.