Misgivings: My Mother, My Father, Myself

This spare, 170-page prose work is not a memoir in the usual sense of the word: it is a collection of visceral memories, some extended, some quite brief, all of which hinge on the author/poet's intensely felt relationship with his mother and father. A wide-ranging portrait of a mid-century East Coast Jewish family, Williams calls his work an "autobiographical meditation." I began reading quite skeptically, wondering why a man of age 63 would still be so caught up with family issues -- especially his unblinking descriptions of his long-dead parents' worst characteristics. But as I proceeded, I was surprised to find this seemingly self-centered meditation seeping into the musty recesses of my own memory and experience. His language is burnished to a luster; he can conjure memories of a child's-eye view from the top of a see-saw or a momentary parental rage that has stayed with you over decades. Thus I came to find the work transformative; persuasive in the way that a poem can take you somewhere you weren't planning to go. I am going to recommend "Misgivings" to all my grown-up men friends.