by Richard Subber | Mar 15, 2025 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature
it’s not “extra”…
Book review:
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
by Dan Harris and Jeff Warren, with Carlye Adler
New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2017
286 pages
I tried meditation once, about 20 years ago or so, and, I confess, I didn’t stick with it.
It seemed like an “extra” thing to do, and I think I felt like I was busy enough.
Harris makes a believable case for giving it a try.
He has good news, in part: you don’t have to sit cross-legged with your knees painfully lowered, you don’t have to pick any kind of “mantra,” and you can start off with 5 or 10 minutes a day—and he repeatedly says “one minute of meditation absolutely counts.”
I’m retired, and now I know I have the time to meditate if I feel like it.
I can count my breaths, so I can get started.
I’ve tried it a couple times already, and, I confess, I think there is a welcome stillness connected to the whole thing.
I think there may be a new way to be me.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Address Unknown
A friendship corrupted by Nazi hatred in WWII
by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
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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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by Richard Subber | Mar 13, 2025 | Human Nature, Reflections, Tidbits
don’t bite back…
“How much better it is to take the opposite course
and not to match fault with fault.
Would any one think that he was well balanced
if he repaid a mule with kicks
and a dog with biting?”
Seneca (4 BC-65 CE), On Anger (De Ira), 3.27.2
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Seven Gothic Tales
by Isak Dinesen,
lush and memorable stories…
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Mar 11, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry
he rang a bell…
a style of song
He wore rough clothes,
scuffed heavy shoes,
he knew where he was going
but he kept a shuffle pace,
he had no look of joy,
there was no kind of sparkle,
only placid look ahead,
as if starting out on plain old day…
with quiet voice he rang a bell,
he filled the silence,
I could tell
he was no stranger to the song—
he sang the word:
“somewhere…”
and took a breath
and let immensity swell again,
and murmured:
“…over the…”
and I wanted to help him sing.
he kept on walking…
December 19, 2024
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Mila 18
horrific truth by Leon Uris
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Mar 9, 2025 | Book reviews, Books, Human Nature, Theater and play reviews
Cue the “Brodie girls”…
Movie review:
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969, rated PG, 116 minutes) is all Maggie Smith, all the time.
There is a story line: deeply committed and outspoken teacher pushes young girls to maturity while she dabbles in love and grasps everywhere for approval.
Miss Jean Brodie (Smith) creates a mostly adoring set of “Brodie girls” as she flourishes and flaunts and flounders at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in 1930s Edinburgh.
She leaves a trail of broken hearts and endures the ultimate humiliation of losing her job after she is “betrayed” by a student who almost grows up in the process.
Good acting, good story, good entertainment.
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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Cleopatra: A Life
…don’t even think
about Gordon Gekko…
by Stacy Schiff
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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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by Richard Subber | Mar 6, 2025 | Books, My poetry, Poetry
a dog like him…
Oh, LeRoy!
It’s just not true that every ranch
has to have a dog like him,
but try to name a place that calls
itself a ranch, and claims with pride
to be a place where cowboys ride,
and doesn’t have a lanky pooch
who sleeps in all the darnedest spots,
and loves a scratch, and likes the kids,
and knows his name is LeRoy.
Every dude at Smith Fork Ranch
made friends with him without delay,
and learned his name, and scratched his head,
and waved him into line to join
the hike up to the bears’ own ridge,
and cheered him on when he detoured
to splash around in that high pond,
and made a point, back at the ranch,
to grab a treat from LeRoy’s jar
and make him “Sit!” (he almost did).
You’ll guess these stories never end,
but you don’t know that we were there
on our last day, when that old truck
made too much noise in passing by,
and LeRoy knew—to keep us safe—
he had to snarl and bark and run
to chase that truck—but oh!, too close…
He never knew how many tears,
so many tears we had for him.
October 15, 2016
LeRoy died at Smith Fork Ranch, Crawford, CO, in September 2007.
My poem “Oh, LeRoy!” 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.
Book review: The Sea Runners
…it informs, it does not soar…
by Ivan Doig
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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