Much of The Whole Gray Lake's a Sky finds itself a half step removed from the norm, the expected--whether it's a couple walking around a summer resort town in November, a Jewish reporter in 1950s Communist Romania, or a daughter not grieving as she recites Kaddish for her mother. Using sonnets, villanelles, blank verse, and other traditional forms, Goldberg combines grief and humor in lyrics whose subjects range from AM radio to a Barcelona basilica to her father's deathbed. In dramatic monologues, a deer hunter prepares his muzzleloader as he remembers his grandfather, and the neglectful mother of King Solomon's judgement tells her side of the story. As in the final poem, "Whale Watch, 2024," the book focuses on the mystery, sadness, and beauty in what you're not looking for: "the whale's not what you see when you get there/ but each minute, everyone, and everywhere."
