These writings, together with Dr. Robert Coles's enthusiastic appraisal of teaching Williams and Dr. William Eric Williams's personal and touching filial account, "My Father, the Doctor," make up an intriguing and timely study of the poet as a physician of rare humanity and self-knowledge. As Coles suggests, Dr. Williams's writing can help many others take a knowing look at the medical profession.

Mind and body --
Old Doc Rivers --
The girl with a pimply face --
The use of force --
A night in June --
Jean Beicke --
A face of stone --
Dance pseudomacabre --
The paid nurse --
Ancient gentility --
Verbal transcription : 6 a.m. --
The insane --
Comedy entombed : 1930 --
The practice (from The autobiography) --
Poems: The birth ; Le médecin maglré lui ; Dead baby ; A cold front ; The poor ; To close --
Afterword: My father, the doctor / by William Eric Williams