contemplation…a poem

contemplation…a poem

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

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

“More than coffee…” (my poem)

“More than coffee…” (my poem)

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)

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

not just cookies…my poem

not just cookies…my poem

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…

click here

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

“Darkness begs for light…”…“View,” my poem

“Darkness begs for light…”…“View,” my poem

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

The Book of Days…part lv

The Book of Days…part lv

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.

 

Caprice

 

The clouds pretend to lithic form

   but they are sprites

      that will not stay,

all shifting shapes

   of wisp and white

      and blur and bulge and gray…

 

July 20, 2020

Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

 

Published in March-April 2024 issue of Creative Inspirations

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: The Scarlet Letter

the beating hearts…by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

the TV screen won’t stop talking…my poem

the TV screen won’t stop talking…my poem

you know what to do…

 

point and squeeze

 

Shoot me if I start watching TV again.

 

I don’t want to be

   like the old lady in the wheelchair

      who turns, with some visible pain,

to gaze at the TV screen as she’s pushed past it.

 

I don’t want to be

   like the old guy in the fitness room

      who sits on his exercise chair

         and looks up, fixated with mouth agape,

at the TV screen that won’t stop talking.

 

I don’t want to be

   like the people in the waiting room

      who can’t stop looking

         at the TV screen

            with the sound turned down.

 

Keep an eye on me—you know what to do.

 

May 14, 2025

*   *   *   *   *   *

My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

 

The Scarlet Letter, victim of Hollywood

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s version is best

click here

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.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Pin It on Pinterest