by Richard Subber | Nov 25, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
no clock needed for dancing…
daily
The arrow of time flies high
and low and ever on,
and sometimes slow,
time creeps, betimes,
a pause is not unknown…
My time’s my own,
I guard it
when there is no room for dancing…
July 12, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Snow Goose
…sensual drama, eminently poetic…
by Paul Gallico
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Nov 23, 2025 | American history, Book reviews, Books, Democracy, Human Nature, Politics, Power and inequality
Talk to someone “on the other side”…
Book review:
Uncivil Agreement:
How Politics Became Our Identity
by Lilliana Mason
Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2018
183 pages
Mason offers penetrating analysis of the partisanship that is driving America deeper into political chaos. The evidence of her sincere, fact-based examination is that she conspicuously does not offer a “how to fix it” conclusion.
This is academic prose—not easy and not entertaining. It is, rather, abundant data, knowledgeably organized and carefully illuminated. Our national sociopolitical chaos is deeply rooted in human nature and it’s frightening when exposed to conscious consideration.
Uncivil Agreement tells the despairing story: too much of our political wrangling and competition has little if anything to do with “issues” and “policies” and laws. Too much of our partisan political motivation is essentially human emotions—fear, anger, and antipathy to people who are outside one’s own group.
National political figures like Trump and Sanders and others are—deliberately or inadvertently—stoking angers and fears instead of inviting citizens to vote responsibly for candidates and policies that will benefit them and also benefit the citizens of our country. Too much explosive partisanship is group-oriented (“my group” vs. “other groups”) and reinforced by social interactions and overlapping group identities that not only exclude but also demonize the “other” groups. It’s not simply racial prejudice, but that’s a big part of it.
Mason provides essential understanding of what’s going on in the fearful tumult of American politics. If you read only the final chapter (“Can We Fix It?”), you will learn much of value.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Literary Life: A Second Memoir…book review
Larry McMurtry’s love affair with books
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Nov 20, 2025 | Human Nature, Joys of reading, Language, Reflections
take time to share…
“In the life of each of us, I said to myself,
there is a place remote and islanded,
and given to endless regret or secret happiness…”
from
Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels and Stories
by Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)
The Library of America
New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1994
937 pages
p. 444
…sharing is what comes to my mind
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
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My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 52 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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by Richard Subber | Nov 18, 2025 | Human Nature, Language, My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
“…sounds that do not invite love…”
I know that much of ordinary human conversation
is essentially gossip about people we know,
experiences we’ve shared, and everyday occurrences.
Technically, even if you think you don’t gossip,
most likely you do quite a bit, every day.
Babel
The buzz of the crowd.
Social noise is so tolerable,
so remarkably incidental,
essentially careless communication,
public talk for private ears,
an imperative stream of disposable words.
Profoundly human noise.
No other creature babbles while feeding and drinking,
no other creature squanders such precious energy
to make noises that do not bring food,
to utter sounds that do not invite love
and do not demand respect.
No other creature is so fond of gabble,
so willing to abandon privacy
and say so many words
that almost no one wants to hear.
December 5, 2015
Pervasive gossip, de facto, is neither good nor bad. Most human beings incessantly communicate with each other.
My point is that gossiping in public can be noisy, intrusive, distracting, wondrously irrelevant, and, occasionally, disgusting. Usually, I really don’t want to hear your half of the cell phone conversation.
Now, talking—that’s a different story.
Talk it over with your friends.
My poem “Babel” was published in my second collection of 47 poems, Seeing far: Selected poems.
You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),
or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Movie review: Same Time, Next Year
all-American adultery, oh yeah…
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.
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by Richard Subber | Nov 15, 2025 | Theater and play reviews
it’s for grownups, too…
Movie review:
The Wizard of Oz
Maybe you haven’t watched The Wizard of Oz in a while. It’s not just for kids.
There are grown-up songs, introduced by “Over the Rainbow,” and probably you know most of the words to that song. Plus, you know what “follow the yellow brick road” means.
The Wizard of Oz (1939 version, rated G, 102 minutes) is basically a feel-good film, with a great big dose of technical wizardry and a widescreen feel that was created before anyone even dreamed about widescreen.
Judy Garland (1922-1969) was 16 years old when she starred as Dorothy trying to get back to Kansas with her adored Toto. She teams up with the iconic characters that you can name: Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the cowardly Lion. There’s a lot of prancing down the road.
Try watching Wizard one more time, with kids if they’re available. You won’t be surprised when you realize that a movie doesn’t need guns, high speed car chases, or any you-know-what scenes to be more or less completely entertaining.
Maybe, like me, you can remember that The Wizard of Oz was the first movie you watched the first time you had access to a color television set.
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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Poems of Robert Frost
he hears bluebirds talking…
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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”
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