by Richard Subber | Oct 2, 2025 | Language, My poetry, Poetry
The Book of Days
The dawn’s early light can be pleasure enough for the whole day.
There are words enough to tell the story of “the temptation of day to come.”
It is my delight to write some of them for your delectation.
Above all
A sunrise so paintable it brushes away
my faint recall of others I have seen…
A sunrise, surely, cannot be
the best of all dawns
since that first one,
but, still,
this startling canopy of latent reds,
and dappled puffs of barely more than air,
is there, blushing,
billowing itself to demean all rivals.
This sky high bloom,
chromatic, marbled,
vastly still in each moment,
paused in fleeting time
to tempt a longer view,
teases my delight
with every hint of lasting grace
that all too soon will fade
to drab wists in blue air.
Above all, I see
this flirtation of the elements,
this wanton splash of radiant sky
that kisses my eyes,
but won’t commit
to be there for me tomorrow.
February 21, 2017
My poem “Above all” was published in my sixth collection of 73 poems, Above all: Poems of dawn and more. You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”
My poem “Above all” 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”
Published in the Fall 2018 issue of miller’s pond
* * * * * *
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
–
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.
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 30, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
first thoughts…
Contemplation
What did the shuffling ape
think when she saw
for the first time
a whole tree,
as it stood alone
beyond the edge of the wood?
Did she think of shape for the first time?
Did she think “bigger than me”?
Did she conjure a new word?
Did she imagine not climbing it,
and shuffling on
to where the berries grow?
Did she point to it when her mate arrived?
Did she think “I move,
I am not that thing”?
June 18, 2025
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: An Empire Divided
King George and his ministers
wanted the Caribbean sugar islands
more than they wanted the 13 colonies…
by Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy
–
My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 53 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 | Sep 23, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
forget about berry picking…
Contemplation
What did the shuffling ape
think when she saw
for the first time
a whole tree,
as it stood alone
beyond the edge of the wood?
Did she think of shape for the first time?
Did she think “bigger than me”?
Did she conjure a new word?
Did she imagine not climbing it,
and shuffling on
to where the berries grow?
Did she point to it when her mate arrived?
Did she think “I move,
I am not that thing”?
June 18, 2025
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale…book review
Literate, but impersonal
–
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.
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 18, 2025 | Human Nature, My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
I see futures…
More than coffee…
Polly has a name tag.
I don’t have a name tag.
She sees me as I am.
She doesn’t know what I see.
She sees now,
I see futures, more for her than for me.
When I slumped in this booth,
I thought I wanted coffee…
I think what I really want
is to be really ready
to be the old man who is already me.
What I want is to warm myself
with old joys in new ways,
what I want is the promise
of all my yesterdays,
the promise of kissing my beloved
at tomorrow’s dawn,
what I want is to be remembered
by my grandchildren.
What I want is to tell Polly, gently,
to see her futures with my eyes,
to pay attention to the memories
that are piling up,
to let herself rejoice in the tomorrows,
to start learning
what kind of old lady she’s going to be…
She stands there,
somehow looking down
on the mountain of my years,
with her order book in hand,
and she asks:
“Know what you want?”
May 31, 2020
Inspired by “No Problem” by George Bilgere (b1951)
My poem “More than coffee…” was published in my fifth collection of 53 poems, My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems.
You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),
or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
The Wind and the Lion (1975)
heroic, the way it was…(movie review)
–
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 | Sep 14, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Tidbits
the crumbs beckon…
not just cookies…
Don’t reach for the last one,
not yet,
let the full taste linger,
let the crunch
become a munch,
let the crumbs beckon,
lick your fingers
one last time,
then go ahead.
Do it.
Eat the last macaroon.
Say “thank you!”
right out loud,
let everyone hear it!
May 25, 2025
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: An Empire on the Edge
by Nick Bunker
The British wanted to win
the Revolutionary War,
but they had good reasons
for not trying too hard…
–
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.
* * * * * *
by Richard Subber | Sep 6, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
children show the way…
View
Darkness begs for light.
The shaded bower does not fight
the sun’s traverse,
the first bright ray
that heralds day…
The night embraces all its dark,
at dusk the light well knows
to fade,
faint stars are meagre,
creatures huddle
to protect their own,
endings seem to come to fore,
but dawn begins
to make its way…
Great shadows linger
in the barn’s high reach,
the hay is mounded,
making dark spaces
where no one goes,
making the hiding spots
that no one knows,
and yet the children
climb old ladders,
and flounce the hay and shout
and guard their lantern
in the shadows,
and heed the lure of dark,
and make some day
as they make their lark…
May 29, 2025
inspired by “…to make sunshine in a shady place.” from The Sketches of Louisa May Alcott, by Louisa May Alcott, New York: Ironweed Press, Inc., 2001, 282 pages, p. 250
* * * * * *
My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
–
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.
* * * * * *
