by Richard Subber | Mar 21, 2026 | Reflections, Reviews of other poets, Tidbits
no surprise here…
“Now and then it’s good to pause
in our pursuit of happiness
and just be happy.”
Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)
French poet
All you need to do with this one is nod your head and say “Yeah, I need to do that more.”
Ring the bell that’s in your hand.
Sing the song that’s in your head.
[Thanks to my trusted personal advisor for this one]
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shawshank Redemption
A world I do not want to know…
by Stephen King
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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 | Mar 19, 2026 | American history, Book reviews, Books, History, Politics, Power and inequality
it’s about money, not journalism
Book review:
Newspapers and Democracy:
International Essays on a Changing Medium
Anthony Smith, ed.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1980
Newspapers and Democracy may be of most interest to informed readers who understand the basics of the history and the modern business model of newspapers, and want more historical context.
The essays were published in 1980. There is no mention of the internet or Google or social media or any of the digital manifestations that have crowded the traditional newspaper audience into a small corner.
There is no substantial or convincing assessment of the putative public service mission of “the press” that has been blatantly claimed by newspaper owners and journalists for at least more than 60 years.
Newspapers and Democracy is a museum piece, not an explanation of the alleged “power” of the alleged “free press.”
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
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Seeing far: Selected poems with 47 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 17, 2026 | Books, Joys of reading, My poetry, Poetry
not just any book…
old books
A book is not just a book.
The writer knows the book,
at least, the wholeness of it,
and what was left unscribed.
Each reader knows the book,
at least, the meaning of the words
in their order,
and in their revelation,
and in their singularity,
their growth as understanding molds them.
An old book is a shell of its time,
a memento of its era,
a souvenir of thought and thinking,
a precious invitation
to live in the past,
a reality of expectations,
generations of meaning,
a companion of other words.
December 24, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Sketches by Boz
…the Miss Willises are a scream…
by Charles Dickens
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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 15, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Joys of reading, Language
We’re all connected…
Book review:
The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way
by Bill Bryson (b1951)
New York: Harper Perennial, 1990
270 pages
The Mother Tongue is a fascinating collection of details you haven’t dreamed of about the English language. It’s easy enough to skim the parts that you don’t need to read in detail.
If you think that English stands alone as our primary means of communication, think again, and then think again.
We’re all connected by words, and the connections are everywhere.
As it happens, English is the pre-eminent language of the world. Of course, that doesn’t mean that English speakers are pre-eminent, but it does mean that if the little guys ever step out of the spaceship from Mars, it won’t take them long to figure out which language they want to learn first.
There is a really elaborate bibliography if you want to know more.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shakespeare’s Wife
Germaine Greer went overboard a bit…
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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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by Richard Subber | Mar 12, 2026 | Language, Reviews of other poets, Tidbits
not the best, but…
“…the mad wind’s night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.”
from “The Snow-Storm” (1841) by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
in Vol. 1 of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century
Generally Emerson’s poetry isn’t the best of the best,
in my mind,
but he does put some of the best words
in the best order sometimes.
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
“The beginning is always today.”
(quote, Mary Shelley)
so get started…
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Seeing far: Selected poems with 47 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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