be a philosopher, sooner or later

be a philosopher, sooner or later

the words will come…

 

 

“It is a fact of human life

that one must eventually choose a philosophy.”

 

from A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles (b. 1964)

New York: Penguin Books, 2016

462 pages

p. 146

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: The Scarlet Letter

the beating hearts…by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

 

chat with a chippie?…my poem

chat with a chippie?…my poem

think like a chipmunk…

 

 

Busy

 

The chippie halts on the second step.

I’ve seen him there, he will not stay,

his hole is close, he will not stray,

he skips across my little yard

   but not too far.

 

I want to ask him, just this once,

if he’d like to scout a cozy place

   he’s never seen,

he stares at me, no fear,

I’d like a little chat, I think,

I’d like to hear his thoughts,

but I can see

   he has no time to talk.

 

October 23, 2019

 

Inspired by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s “Following Mr. Berry’s Instructions,”

published October 23, 2019, on her website, A Hundred Falling Veils

 

“You have to be able to imagine lives that aren’t yours.”

Wendell Berry

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

 

Book review: The Bridges of Madison County

If you’re looking for

  highly stoked eroticism

    and high-rolling lives

      that throw off sparks when they touch,

look elsewhere.

by Robert Waller

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Red Dawn, another good Patrick Swayze movie

Red Dawn, another good Patrick Swayze movie

“Wolverines!”

 

 

Movie review:

Red Dawn

 

Red Dawn is more than a shoot ‘em up movie.

Red Dawn (1984, PG-13, 114 minutes) is all-American stuff—the mountaineering teenage heroes, with Boy Scout gear and some guns, prevail over the invading Russian paratroopers. It makes you want to shout “Wolverines!” It was still a Cold War environment in 1984, just sayin’.

Jed (Patrick Swayze) and his friends try to talk out their issues of patriotism, humanity, privation, and growing up. There is death, and triumph, and betrayal, and pride, and growing up.

It helps that the Russian soldiers are by-the-book brutal characters, not too smart, and they can’t seem to beat a small gang of teens (“Wolverines!”) who are “hiding” in the mountains.

There’s another Red Dawn film, done in 2012 (PG-13, 93 minutes), with a similar story line. It’s a remake, but it’s not fully baked, it’s mostly action and shooting. Don’t bother with it.

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

 

Go Down Together…Bonnie and Clyde (book review)

they were violent criminals

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“way up there,” that bird…my poem

“way up there,” that bird…my poem

bucket list?

 

 

way up there

 

I’ve never been to the top-most twig,

it’s not on my list,

I know that’s true.

 

I saw her,

   swaying as the tree tops

      let the breezes do their thing,

otherwise she did not move.

 

I envied her pacific view,

and briefly wondered

   what she cares to see,

when all around her does not hide,

when down means not too far,

when far away is not that far

   for wings that wait to spread…

 

I guess she’s seen it all

   ten thousand times,

I guess she might glance

   for a moment at me,

and murmur “you wouldn’t believe…”

 

I think I might,

but I’m content

   to let her be alone,

to be that high.

 

April 8, 2024

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 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”

 

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

*   *   *   *   *   *

The Brothers…Civil War storytelling

The Brothers…Civil War storytelling

This is good storytelling

 

 

Book review:

The Brothers

 

Janet M. Kovarik

2014

 

If you’re a student of the Civil War, you’ll recognize the actual historical figures who are part of the story, and you’ll quickly feel comfortably familiar with Stu and Beau and Sarah and their families, because they embody some of the compelling human agents of the wartime drama.

These characters are three-dimensional. There is human urgency in their speech and actions. These are cerebral characters who are articulately reflective, thoughtful about their circumstances and their life journeys, and passionate about love and rectitude and their personal legacies and futures.

The Brothers is the first novel in The McCullough Saga. The twins, Beau and Stu, have explicitly distinct personalities but their lives have remarkably similar if unconventional trajectories. They are the central figures in a human story, on a human scale, with a conspicuously realistic historical setting. Storm Haven, their deep South plantation, is convincingly researched, as are the gritty battle scenes, the economics and logistics of the war, the arduous success of the Underground Railroad and the delights of antebellum southern cuisine.

The Brothers is a dialogue-rich offering of historical fiction. I’m a dialogue fan. This is good storytelling.

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

 

The Unknown American Revolution (book review)

in the streets, says Gary Nash

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

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