by Richard Subber | Feb 13, 2025 | Reflections, Tidbits
The main thing is what counts…
Michelangelo “left three-fifths
of his sculptures unfinished.”
Maybe other projects came along.
Maybe the patron changed his mind.
Maybe Michelangelo got tired of working on those pieces.
Maybe he forgot.
Point is, don’t worry if you don’t finish everything you start.
Figure out what the main thing is, and do it.
from
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
by David Epstein (b1983)
New York: Riverhead Books, 2019
quote is from p. 164
* * * * * *
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
84, Charing Cross Road (book review)
Helene Hanff, on reading good books…
–
many waters: more poems with 53 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 | Feb 11, 2025 | Books, My poetry, Poetry, Reflections, Tidbits
see it clearly
dew not
Away, you foggy dew!
…in hazy morn it seems so clear,
our views of life embrace still air,
we want no clouds across our path,
we want no wind to fill the space
that brings the distant beauty near,
we want no rain
that draws our eyes
to up and up,
and wets the skies
and hides our dreams.
We want the void that touches all
and leaves no mark,
the see-through part
that makes each thing
some thing to see,
the empty place
where foggy dew
is always a stranger.
December 29, 2024
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: A Cold Welcome
The culprit was global cooling,
500 years ago…
by Sam White
–
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”
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Feb 9, 2025 | Theater and play reviews
lions know much
Movie review:
Out of Africa
1985
Rated PG
161 minutes
Out of Africa is a lovably unconventional love story, and the African scenes of flora and fauna are just lush. It won seven Oscars.
A daughter in a rich Danish family, Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) works hard to maintain a coffee plantation in early 20th century Kenya, and in time she falls hard for the cavalierly independent Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford). They enjoy an ill-fated romance, ended by his untimely death.
This poem reflects my “Thumbs up!” review:
Lions know much
The she-lion came first
before sunrise lighted the lower plain.
She did not sniff the square of whitened stones,
nor the deranged, softly mounded earth.
She kept walking, slowly, in the lifting dark.
Later, she returned, with her mate,
to dally on that sunlit slope,
and gaze at the heedless beasts
on the plain below.
The pair returned, another day,
with easy steps,
to tarry in that terraced space,
they could not know, perhaps,
of the man who had been laid
in their earth, in their domain,
they lingered, not knowing, perhaps,
that the still form beneath their feet
had been a gentle man,
but aware, somehow,
that he had been of their world,
that they could add grace to his grave.
The film is based on the 1937 book, Out of Africa, by Karen Blixen (1885-1962) (pen name Isak Dinesen).
* * * * * *
Movie review. My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2024 All rights reserved.
–
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 | Feb 6, 2025 | Books, My poetry, Poetry, Reflections, Tidbits
think of new tomorrows…
caper
“The impossible closes around
like a smooth lake
on an early morning swim.”
…and you taste it,
and stroke through it,
the unseen ripples chase you
as you push your little wave ahead,
you think of new tomorrows,
and you make a silent promise,
and you see the new possible
as it capers on the morning shore.
December 23, 2024
The quote is from “Everything that is not you” by Jane Hirshfield. It inspired me.
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Tales from Shakespeare
summaries by Charles and Mary Lamb…
–
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 | Feb 4, 2025 | Book reviews, Books
where’s the beef?
Book review:
The Stranger/L’Etranger
by Albert Camus (1913-1960)
New York: Vintage International, 1942, 1989
Matthew Ward, trans.
123 pages
I know this is Camus’ first novel, and I know Camus is famous.
The Stranger leaves me cold. The prose is wan, the story detail isn’t too interesting, and the protagonist doesn’t step off the pages much.
Try it if you want to.
* * * * * *
Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
The Reader (Der Vorleser)
Not just a rehash of WWII…
by Bernhard Schlink
–
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”
* * * * * *
