by Richard Subber | Nov 3, 2026 | Human Nature, Tidbits
Live your seasons…
“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Rumi) (1207-1273)
13th century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic
You took what was valuable from your leaves…
let the old leaves nourish the earth,
and grow new leaves.
* * * * * *
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: American Colonies
So many and so much
came before the Pilgrims
by Alan Taylor
–
Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 74 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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Nov 1, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry
The Book of Days
The dawn’s early light can be pleasure enough for the whole day.
There are words enough to tell the story of “the temptation of day to come.”
It is my delight to write some of them for your delectation.
Laze…
Dense air obscures the fen for moments more,
a wan style of blue above
is the mute herald of the day,
and now a fuller mist embraces all
and hides the green that waits for light.
The slumbering wetland will not wake, it seems,
will not cease reposing
nor heed the slow alarm of dawn.
September 5, 2018
My poem “Laze…” was published in my third collection of 64 poems, In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears.
You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),
or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Lafayette by Harlow Unger
He was a great man. Also rich and lucky.
–
In high meadows: poems abide with 60 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.
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Oct 29, 2026 | American history, Book reviews, Books, History, Human Nature, Revolutionary War
The British stopped fighting…
Book review:
The Men Who Lost America:
British Leadership,
the American Revolution,
and the Fate of the Empire
by Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy (b1959)
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013
466 pages
O’Shaughnessy takes the unusual approach of writing nine detailed biographies of the men in the British government whose collective decisions and actions culminated in the loss of the North American colonies during the Revolutionary War.
The Men Who Lost America is a dispassionate debunking of the schoolboy history myth that Washington and his brave Continental Army troops survived the Valley Forge winter to beat the British at Yorktown in 1781, and win the war. Huzzah!
Of course the British—from King George III to his key ministers to the generals and admirals who tried to follow their orders—wanted to win the war. Of course they did.
Nevertheless, The Men Who Lost America lays out the numerous ways that these men never got around to sending enough troops and ships to subdue the American rebels. They never had a war-winning reserve of troops and ships to send, because they were too busy trying to secure their Caribbean sugar island colonies against French and Spanish attacks, and too busy fighting imperial military actions in Canada, Gibraltar, and India.
In fact, O’Shaughnessy demonstrates that the British were not totally defeated in North America. In simple terms, the men who “lost America” finally stopped fighting a war they finally realized they could not win.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: An Empire Divided
King George and his ministers
wanted the Caribbean sugar islands
more than they wanted the 13 colonies…
by Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy
–
Empyrean: new poems with 57 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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Oct 27, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
easy to forget…
…now you don’t
It’s easy to think the word,
easy to think it’s a good idea,
so easy to not think
it’s over there, too far,
easy to forget
it wasn’t any closer yesterday,
easy to be less than “perfect,”
yet, easy to think you see it
in the mirror,
it’s easy to think you see it now…
August 30. 2026
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review:
Great Tales of Terror
and the Supernatural
something horrifying for everyone…
–
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.
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Oct 24, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Language, Poetry, Reviews of other poets
turmoil in the reading
Book review:
The Homeplace
by Marilyn Nelson Waniek (b1946)
Prize-winning American poet
Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1990
Thinking about writing this review of The Homeplace re-boots the cold explosion in my self.
Honestly, there was turmoil in this reading.
Marilyn Nelson Waniek is a respected black poet. I’m an old white guy who writes and cares about poetry.
I don’t read much poetry by other writers that appeals to me. This doesn’t make me special. I think it’s an ordinary experience.
When I say that much of Marilyn Nelson’s work doesn’t appeal to me, that doesn’t signify much of anything out of the ordinary.
When I say that some of the poems wrap their hands around my throat and squeeze directly through to my soul, it signifies exactly what those words mean.
It’s not “black poetry,” let’s get that straight. That term necessarily implies that there is “white poetry.” I think there are ways to characterize poetry, but the demeaning simplicity of “black poetry” or “white poetry” isn’t acceptable. I think it’s not possible. Poetry is personal, and it doesn’t have a skin color.
Here’s an excerpt from The Homeplace:
These are words from “Chosen,” an understated account of a white Southern master and Diverne, a young black woman who is his slave, and Pomp, their son.
“Diverne wanted to die, that August night
his face hung over hers, a sweating moon.
She wished so hard, she killed part of her heart
…And the man who came
out of a twelve-room house and ran to her
close shack across three yards that night, to leap
onto her cornshuck pallet. Pomp was their
share of the future. And it wasn’t rape.
In spite of her raw terror. And his whip.”
I’d like to say I think I want to walk a mile in Marilyn Nelson’s shoes.
Maybe I was able to trudge a few steps when I read her poems.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Financier
Theodore Dreiser’s villain…
–
In high meadows: poems abide with 60 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”
* * * * * *
