by Richard Subber | Feb 15, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Theater and play reviews
a paucity of drama
Book review:
The Birthday Party and The Room:
Two Plays by Harold Pinter
by Harold Pinter (1930-2008)
New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1959, 1960
118 pages
It is possible that a talented cast could breathe some life into Pinter’s words on stage.
It is possible that stage design could invest some reality into Pinter’s words.
Maybe you have to be in a narrow frame of mind to experience some drama and some human wisdom when you read a Pinter play.
If you can ignore the tiresome repetition, and the not-so-pregnant pauses, and the paucity of drama in the dialogues, then maybe you can enjoy reading a Pinter play.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Bartender’s Tale
Ivan Doig’s story, I mostly loved it…
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Feb 12, 2026 | Human Nature, Reflections, Tidbits
does grief ever end?…
“If only the consequences of a deed ended
with the grief it caused, she thought,
then one could bear up until it passed.”
from The Girl at the Lion d’Or by Sebastian Faulks
New York: Vintage International/Vintage Books/A Division of Random House, Inc., 1989.
246 pages
p. 139
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Myths of Tet
How people get killed by lies…
by Edwin E. Moïse
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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 | Feb 10, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry
Whence the wisps…
riverine
Whither the barren shapes
that rise from the horizon,
and lose their form
as they climb the sky?
Whence the wisps that fill small voids,
the remnants of those banks,
the shapeless swirls
of pink and white and grey?
They don’t stay, defying names,
always shifting to new frames,
making night into day,
drifting as they will,
the vault is a vast current,
the waifs of one-time clouds
fill and roil the channel,
without sound,
such patient change,
a nameless river over all…
November 26, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
A poet is a “maker”
…and it doesn’t have to rhyme…
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Feb 7, 2026 | Human Nature, Theater and play reviews
not so very far…
Movie review:
Mr. Holmes
It’s hard to get past the sterling ability of Ian McKellen to create spectacular life in any character, and the Sherlock Holmes character is fertile ground for McKellen’s superlative histrionics.
Mr. Holmes (2015, rated PG, 104 minutes) is worth your time on several levels, starting with the talented Mr. McKellen and Laura Linney (playing his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro).
There’s a mystery (of course!) and Holmes’ almost pathetic attempts to solve the cold case that ended his career are good drama.
The dramatic crux of the movie is a brief scene with his client of yore, Ann Kelmot, (played by Hattie Morahan), who made him an offer he shouldn’t have refused. Holmes comes to understand the full measure of his regret as he remembers more details of their final interview.
The pathos is overwhelming:
(Ann Kelmot) “The dead are not so very far away. They’re just on the other side of the wall.
It’s us on this side who are all of us so…”
(Sherlock Holmes) “…alone.”
You have time to watch this one.
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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Poets talk about poetry
…a red hot bucket of love…
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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 | Feb 5, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry
not so very far away
walking along
With heartful eye
I see you walking in beauty.
I walk your garden,
its far wall of flowers
draws my gaze,
I may see you walking there,
I may join you…
The wall of flowers
may be the end
of the garden,
it may be a boundary,
maybe you are
not so very far away,
maybe you can see me…
September 29, 2025
for my dearest one
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Saint Joan
by George Bernard Shaw
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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