“The corner booth,” my poem

“The corner booth,” my poem

the waitress knows my name…

 

 

The corner booth

 

Maybe you wonder how I can spend

   so much time in this corner booth…

It’s easy, really, I have nowhere else I need to be,

this place is nicer than my place,

and I see people here,

years ago I met my friend here

   almost every day,

I miss his cheerful contemplation

   of so many things.

I’m alone now,

but not lonely,

I think about the times of my life

   and the people I shared it with,

we shared good times in this booth,

and we shared the sadness we couldn’t avoid,

it’s a comfort being here,

the waitress knows my name, of course,

and she knows what I like to eat…

I didn’t think I would become

   the old man in the corner booth.

You don’t think you’re going to be like me.

 

March 26, 2023

 

Inspired by “Old Man Eating Alone in a Chinese Restaurant”

by Billy Collins, as published in “Poem of the Day,” August 21, 2022,

by Poetry Foundation

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

We Were Soldiers Once…and Young

…too much death (book review)

Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (ret.)

         and Joseph L. Galloway

click here

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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“…the gestalt of words…”…”456,” my poem

“…the gestalt of words…”…”456,” my poem

…a reverie of imagination

 

 

456

 

Time becomes energy.

 

The clean slate waits for the first mark,

she will make that stroke

   when she is ready,

she moves beyond not knowing,

as she unwinds the calculus of understanding,

and lightly trembles

   with the gentle passion of curiosity.

 

She learns new tools

   and learns that mistakes can be erased

      after they have done their work.

 

Persistence is a new glee,

she turns the cat’s cradle of unknowns

   in her reverie of imaginations,

and forgets to look up from her book,

learns to welcome the gestalt

   of words on the previous page…

she coolly adds 137 and 319

   in her head,

and with her chalk pencil

   she writes the secret sum.

 

November 14, 2020

Inspired by Die Hausaufgabe (The Homework), painted in 1893 by Simon Glücklich (1863-1943)

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

“Fishering,” by Brian Doyle

…what meets the eye…

click here

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…lurching strides in softer sand…”…”Fleet beach,” my poem

“…lurching strides in softer sand…”…”Fleet beach,” my poem

working it out…

 

 

Fleet Beach

 

Flaunting, I walk upright in the wind,

the windward shoulder braced against…

it looks like nothing,

but it feels…

 

I will not stop, but damn!

   these lurching strides in softer sand,

I lean toward the firmer band

   halfway up this draining slope,

 

I am not a shuffler!

I say it.

This pace is good…

 

It’s good enough for now.

 

Fleet Beach

Chatham, Cape Cod, MA

June 5, 2000

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

We Were Soldiers Once…and Young

…too much death (book review)

Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (ret.)

         and Joseph L. Galloway

click here

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”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Chipmunk talk…

Chipmunk talk…

he stares at me, no fear…

 

 

Busy

 

The chippie halts on the second step.

I’ve seen him there, he will not stay,

his hole is close, he will not stray,

he skips across my little yard

   but not too far.

 

I want to ask him, just this once,

if he’d like to scout a cozy place

   he’s never seen,

he stares at me, no fear,

I’d like a little chat, I think,

I’d like to hear his thoughts,

but I can see

   he has no time to talk.

 

October 23, 2019

Inspired by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s “Following Mr. Berry’s Instructions,”

published October 23, 2019, on her website, A Hundred Falling Veils

 

“You have to be able to imagine lives that aren’t yours.”

Wendell Berry

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

84, Charing Cross Road (book review)

Helene Hanff, on reading good books…

click here

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…a place where I can be happy…”…”What I know,” my poem

“…a place where I can be happy…”…”What I know,” my poem

I know there’s a place…

 

 

What I know

 

I’ll keep moving, I know I will.

I know I can’t remember how to go back.

I’ll keep looking for the place

   I want to turn to,

I know that I can go on.

I know I can’t foresee

   the final bend in this road.

I’ll keep asking how to get there.

 

I know there’s a place

   where I can be happy,

I know I’ll find it.

I know I will.

 

June 25, 2019

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: Shawshank Redemption

A world I do not want to know…

by Stephen King

click here

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”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…to share her apple breath…”…my poem

“…to share her apple breath…”…my poem

the trusting babe…

 

 

Near

 

…close enough to feel my thumb

   in her searching grip,

close enough to share

   her apple breath,

close enough to cradle

   her weight across my arm,

and weep true love’s tears

   as she suddenly sleeps

      without a care…

 

August 27, 2021

 

I was walking around our kitchen, in early 2011, with my first granddaughter in my arms.

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: “The Gentle Boy”

Oh yes, the Puritans had a dark side…

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

click here

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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