listen to the stones…”ken,” my poem

listen to the stones…”ken,” my poem

that entish slang…

 

 

ken

 

The words of stones

   come soft,

and there are whispers,

and the birds’ chirping

   is a refrain,

and the trees talk

   mostly to themselves

      in their entish slang…

 

Are we listening?

Do we give them moments

   to speak as they will?

Can we trust the words

   that we barely understand?

Do we need to hear

   the stones and their mountains?

Shall we learn from these scant words

   a new way of knowing?

Shall we hear the worlds

   that exist with us,

      persist without us?

Shall we allow those words

   to fill our ears and minds and hearts?

 

Is there new meaning

   so near to our ken?

 

June 20, 2024

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

“The beginning is always today.”

(quote, Mary Shelley)

so get started…

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Night by Elie Wiesel…book review

Night by Elie Wiesel…book review

a corpse in the mirror

 

 

Book review:

Night

 

by Elie Wiesel (1928-2016)

Buchenwald survivor

Stella Rodway, trans.

 

New York: Bantam Books, 1958

109 pages

 

In Night, Elie Wiesel tells his story of being a teenage boy in the death camps of Nazi Germany during World War II.

He uses the necessary words, and he speaks from the depths of his being.

He lost his mother, his father, and his young sister in the camps.

He was liberated from Buchenwald by American soldiers on April 11, 1945.

Wiesel recalls that after he was freed, he saw his reflection in a mirror for the first time since he was transported:

 

“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me.”

*   *   *   *   *   *

Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

Home Team: Poems About Baseball (book review)

Edwin Romond hits another homer…

click here

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…being human is a guest house…” …Rumi (1207-1273)

“…being human is a guest house…” …Rumi (1207-1273)

c’mon in…

 

 

“This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.”

 

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī “Rumi” (1207-1273)

a 13th-century Persian poet

Coleman Barks, trans.

 

the guest house can be your house,

the “new arrival” can be you…

*   *   *   *   *   *

Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: “The Gentle Boy”

The Puritans had a dark side…

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“duchess with a bird”…my poem

“duchess with a bird”…my poem

in stiff embrace…

 

 

duchess with a bird

 

The hennin is the mode,

it weighs upon her head

   but she does not wonder

      that it claims the eye,

it is a tower, but a trifle,

the flaring horns are innocent

   of finery or fancy,

they trail alike to capes

   that hide much of her gown.

 

She flaunts her wealth and her self,

and marvels as she stands alone

   in stiff embrace of the tiny bird,

her new universe, a bird’s horizon,

without joy, nor caper,

she cannot twirl.

 

The bird does not incline to fly,

it has no song,

quiet instants escape their time,

the bird is mystic,

it does not flail or flee,

she moves her empty hand to no avail,

together they make a tableau.

 

She who has no name

   does not think to share a word,

she feels no need to seek for more,

the bird is indistinct, content,

it stays.

 

She is a duchess with a bird,

she tilts her head,

her double-horned hat flares,

it makes a scene,

it conjures trailing musics,

and pomp of court.

 

July 27, 2024

 

Inspired by sculpture at Birch Creek 315, Linden Ponds, Hingham, MA

Revised based on feedback from Dee Bayne

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

If you’re interested in

   romantic historical fiction,

try Rafael Sabatini

Scaramouche and Saint Martin’s Summer

click here

Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 73 free verse 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 Breakfast Club…movie review

The Breakfast Club…movie review

children have real lives…

 

 

Movie review:

The Breakfast Club

 

Which one of the kids in The Breakfast Club (1985, rated R, 97 minutes) is most like you?

Claire (Molly Ringwald), John (Judd Nelson), Andrew (Emilio Estevez), Allison (Ally Sheedy), or Brian (Anthony Hall)?

These are children whose lives you wouldn’t wish on your grandchildren.

Their Saturday detention for various student wrongdoings is a hell-fired playground for growing up and facing truths and learning about the wonderful unknowns of human kindness.

In one brief day they grow and change and assert their special personalities.

They become better people.

The Breakfast Club is funny, it’s sad, and only the kids think there are mysteries.

It becomes a feel good movie.

There’s something more: I imagine that you can’t watch the movie and avoid thinking, even once, “yeah, I was a little bit like that when I was younger.”

I imagine that you’ll take a minute or two,

like I did,

to think about how you’re different now.

*   *   *   *   *   *

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

 

Book review: Grace Notes

Is it prose or poetry?

by Brian Doyle

click here

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

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