by Richard Subber | Mar 15, 2026 | Book reviews, Books, Joys of reading, Language
We’re all connected…
Book review:
The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way
by Bill Bryson (b1951)
New York: Harper Perennial, 1990
270 pages
The Mother Tongue is a fascinating collection of details you haven’t dreamed of about the English language. It’s easy enough to skim the parts that you don’t need to read in detail.
If you think that English stands alone as our primary means of communication, think again, and then think again.
We’re all connected by words, and the connections are everywhere.
As it happens, English is the pre-eminent language of the world. Of course, that doesn’t mean that English speakers are pre-eminent, but it does mean that if the little guys ever step out of the spaceship from Mars, it won’t take them long to figure out which language they want to learn first.
There is a really elaborate bibliography if you want to know more.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shakespeare’s Wife
Germaine Greer went overboard a bit…
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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 | Mar 12, 2026 | Language, Reviews of other poets, Tidbits
not the best, but…
“…the mad wind’s night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.”
from “The Snow-Storm” (1841) by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
in Vol. 1 of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century
Generally Emerson’s poetry isn’t the best of the best,
in my mind,
but he does put some of the best words
in the best order sometimes.
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
“The beginning is always today.”
(quote, Mary Shelley)
so get started…
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Mar 10, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
on the move
motion
We long to move,
we shun to stay,
we yearn to talk,
we won’t be still,
we welcome coming,
the going is okay.
December 20, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Poems of Robert Frost
he hears bluebirds talking…
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Mar 5, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
a cascade…
a time
another time to think of you,
another time,
the cascade of short moments
and smiles as you smiled,
the funny flow of your quick laugh,
the sun of your beaming,
the quiet love of your assent
to dance with me
in our silence,
the hugging
that made long moments ours,
all those times…
December 8, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review:
Shakespeare: The World as Stage
The Bard was the lucky one…
by Bill Bryson
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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.
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by Richard Subber | Mar 1, 2026 | 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.
cloud talk
I guess that clouds may skirr,
they are so far away,
they do stir
and frolic in the sky,
they may whir,
who hears the sound of clouds?
betimes they clap!
withal, they may purr…
October 1, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: A Cold Welcome
The culprit was global cooling,
500 years ago…
by Sam White
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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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by Richard Subber | Feb 24, 2026 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
a ripple, a wonder…
Passage
I think to pass the wetlands,
my humdrum steps
in line to cross the fen,
a thoughtless stroll
to reach the other side,
but a ripple in the sward turns my foot,
a wrinkled phosphor turns my eye,
I stand, agape, at a wild portal,
its door ajar.
I am steeped in wonder.
I bethink a new imagination
of the end of day,
I hurry through,
and, oh!…
December 19, 2020
Inspired by “Wilderness Doorway” by Jennifer Lagier, in the Aurorean, Vol. XXV 2020
My poem “Passage” was published in my seventh collection of 53 poems, many waters: more poems.
You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle),
or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review:
Shakespeare: The World as Stage
The Bard was the lucky one…
by Bill Bryson
–
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.
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