“again is a potent word”…my poem

sweet success

 

 

redux

 

It’s okay to do it again,

we finally start to learn

   that “again” is a potent word,

an invitation, a command,

a goal, a triumph,

a reminder

   that we don’t always get it right,

 

and the do-over

   can be salvation

      and sweet success

         and atonement,

another chance to share a smile,

another round of thank-yous,

the best “I love you”

   ever whispered.

 

March 1, 2025

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: An Empire on the Edge

by Nick Bunker

The British wanted to win

       the Revolutionary War,

    but they had good reasons

        for not trying too hard…

click here

My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 53 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

hearing what we want to hear…my poem

hearing what we want to hear…my poem

you hear what you hear…

 

 

andante, redux

 

Maybe we hear the music

   we want to hear,

maybe each ear

   hears its own sound,

maybe Beethoven

   really didn’t have a problem,

maybe music really is

   a many-splendored thing,

maybe the cranky tunes

   I hear now in this empty lounge

      are sweeter music

         to the madame

            who intently pushes the keys,

and stares at her old pages

   cramped with penciled mementos,

and waves off

   brief words from a passerby,

and hears that pastorale

   as she played it long ago

      with nimbler fingers

         and a steady foot,

and charmed some children,

and some friends,

and a lover,

and nodded with Beethoven’s shade,

and never guessed

   that she would play

      that tune again

         as I wander by

            and briefly hear my version,

and wonder about her music.

 

Feb 20, 2025

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

 

“…and dipped in folly…”

only Poe knows how to say it…

click here

In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears with 64 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

The Demon of Unrest…book review

The Demon of Unrest…book review

seemingly unavoidable…

 

 

Book review:

The Demon of Unrest

 

by Erik Larson (b1954)

New York: Crown Publishing Group, div. of Penguin Random House, 2024

565 pages

 

You’ll recognize the casually engaging prose and the dedicated storytelling style of Erik Larson. It’s a pleasure to read everything he writes.

Larson digs deep to explore the nature of the “demon of unrest” that made trouble for decades and wouldn’t stop provoking the evil sentiments and the violent politics that preceded the historic outbreak of the American Civil War in the Charleston harbor in April 1861.

The Demon of Unrest names and spotlights all the characters who played mostly behind-the-scenes roles as Lincoln and Davis and Beauregard and Scott and Seward and Ruffin and their well-known colleagues blustered and schemed and waited and welcomed and feared the seemingly unavoidable war to end slavery.

No matter how much you know, you’ll learn something more about the assault on Ft. Sumter by reading this book.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

*   *   *   *   *   *

changing the world into words…Bill Gass said it

ink stains on the philosopher’s stone…

 

 

“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold;

     they change the world into words.”

 

William H. Gass (1924-2017)

American novelist, philosopher

 

Gass had his way with words. If you’re a serious reader, check him out.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears with 64 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“this dream that fills our sky”…my poem

“this dream that fills our sky”…my poem

in my dreams…

 

 

before waking…

 

In this dream, again,

I will climb to high meadows

   to invite another trace of you,

to feel a zephyr

   that has filled your hair,

to see again your deep smile

   as you climb the slope

      to show me

         how happiness arrives,

to bring a kiss

   that fills me

      with sweet longing

         for your arms

            that hold me,

in this dream that fills our sky.

 

May 23, 2023

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

The tiny sound of the surf…

…listen for the sea…”Listen,” my poem

click here

Writing Rainbows: Poems for Grown-Ups with 59 free verse and haiku poems,
and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)
and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Pin It on Pinterest