“Little Boy Blue” in Poet Lore, Vol. 10

Gray Jacobik captures the moods of these childhood-happy moments as well as the moments of loss and torment as she weaves in episodes of the boy’s life, until, in his forties, he stands his ground against her pity, claims his dignity, and leaves for good. At the book’s end, the mother of the story finally achieves the detachment that enables her to write, “May you have, near at hand, whatever you need.”

-an excerpt from the review, “One Weighty Grain” by Zara Raab