Undertaker

Introduction

The poem is written by Patricia Smith for Floyd Williams. The poems included a picture of African-American men's experiences in post-Rodney-King America. The poems are testimonials to her son's birth; the death of her father, a boy named Jules, and Miles Davis; and everything in between. "Undertaker" is one of the poems included in the "Closer" section of the book. Dedicated to Floyd Williams, owner of the Floyd Williams Funeral Home in Dorchester, the poem witnesses a young man's death, describing in the voices of the young man, the undertaker, and the young man's mother.

Poem Review

Floyd Williams is not just an undertaker. He's an Uphams Corner institution whose funeral home has served neighborhood residents since 1964.

The poet says that the funeral home operators see neighborhoods change from a different perspective than most of us. The change Williams has seen recently has been especially stark: He's been burying one Cape Verdean young man after another.

'I have done every one of them," he said of their funerals yesterday.

The poet says that one recent killing especially struck a nerve. Or maybe it was just the one that happened to push Williams over the edge. Ismael Canuto, 19, was shot dead June 28 on Clifton Street in the midst of a gang war.

At Canuto's graveside, Williams decided it was time to say something to the young people gathered to say goodbye, the ones he sees at funeral after funeral.

I am in the business of burying people, but I don't want to be burying these young people," Williams said yesterday. I asked them: 'Who's going to carry my casket? Who's going to be the father of our children?'

I am the one that has to sew up the bullet holes and wipe the blood from their faces and listen to their mothers wail, ...