“The beginning is always today.” (quote, Mary Shelley)

“The beginning is always today.” (quote, Mary Shelley)

“The beginning is always today.”

 

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)

 

Today started when you woke up. Think about beginnings.

 

Thanks to my trusted advisor for this one.

Shelley wrote Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), and by the way, if you’ve only watched the movie, you don’t know the Frankenstein story. Read the book.

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2023 All rights reserved.

 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

from the agile mind

    of Arthur Conan Doyle

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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”

 

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a tree for Becky…”A man’s job,” my poem

doing the right thing is easy… 

 

 

A man’s job

 

I won’t sell my trees.

The balsams would go quickly

   at “cut your own” prices,

but I tell my neighbors, again this year,

there will be no cutting

   on this old slope that spills down

      to my little barn.

 

Day is darkening,

and I move among my trees.

This one, bent and broken

   in last winter’s snows,

has grown,

the birds of spring may nest

   in its green spaces…

 

and now, from below,

the boy climbs to me, his head down,

his father’s axe in hand,

he has changed since his father died,

he tries to do a man’s work,

he will have little time

   for baseball with the other boys.

“I told Momma I would find a tree,

to make a Christmas for Becky and the baby.”

 

So.

He holds his axe in both hands,

and he stands straight in my field.

I extend my arm.

“Go find a good one,

I can help you carry it home.”

 

December 1, 2018

My poem “A man’s job” was published in my third collection of 64 poems, In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears. You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, click here

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2022 All rights reserved.

 

“…and dipped in folly…”

only Poe knows how to say it…

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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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“…the journey is always different…”…(”Whither…” my poem)

“…the journey is always different…”…(”Whither…” my poem)

my restless eye

 

 

Whither…

 

I do not see the next turn in my road.

 

I know there will be choosing,

I know that I cannot turn

   both left and right

      as need there be,

that some roads

   will be traveled only once,

that in my living

   I may turn back, betimes,

but the journey is always different

   in the second passage.

 

The known past dims,

and my unknown future

   will brighten with every dawn,

and I know there is no certain map

   of my next steps—

I am content to round the next turn,

and so to look ahead

   to spy the turning

      that invites my restless eye.

 

January 12, 2020

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2022 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: The Cradle Place

by Thomas Lux

poems wrapped in a wet rag…

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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“What the hangman hears” is more than words (poem)

“What the hangman hears” is more than words (poem)

a life story…

 

 

What the hangman hears

 

 

I’m scared
will it hurt?
can you make it quick?
I can’t hold it much longer
the rope is so big
my mother is coming
she’ll pay you
she won’t let me die
can’t you wait?
I’m scared
the rope is tight
I know Johnny will get here
I know he’s coming
he’ll bring you money
wait another minute
where are they?
I’m scared
I didn’t do it

 

October 28, 2021

My poem “What the hangman hears” 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”)

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2022 All rights reserved.

 

Boz indeed! Sketches by Boz

Charles Dickens delivers,

in a fastidiously literary kind of way…

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.

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She’s trying to talk, just sayin’…

She’s trying to talk, just sayin’…

Pop-Pop’s point of view…

 

 

Being the grandfather just fills up my point of view, and the horizon gets pulled in pretty darn close, too!  My beautiful granddaughter, our first, is here with me and my beloved, Barb, who is now Gram. This is our first journey of exploration as overnight babysitters in tandem—my son and his beloved, the Mom, are enjoying an interlude of adult conversation in another state.

…and when I say “pretty darn close,”  I mean pretty DARN close because Gram won’t countenance my occasional unheeding sailor talk and so I try not to utter the other “D” word, although why we call it sailor talk instead of soldier talk or airman talk I do not know,  most of the soldiers I knew could swear like drunken sailors, you betcha…

Anyway, I also try to concentrate on NOT doing baby talk, I never talked baby talk to my son, I intend to model the most correct version of the King’s English with this little girl because I am very well aware that she is already learning language even if she isn’t saying anything intelligible yet. She IS talking, I just don’t know what she’s saying, and I guess she’s in the same boat. So, we both do the best we can in the circumstances, and we smile a lot…and I think she likes to hear singing, so I’m doing some of that too, and it’s OK if I can remember only the chorus of “On The Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” and she doesn’t mind if I sing it several times in a row.

I think it’s quite refreshing that babies don’t judge, they simply observe, learn, and imitate (or not), it would be a nicer world if more people acted like babies more often…except for the doo-doo diaper part, I confess there’s no thrill in it for me, but as the Pop-Pop, I’m prepared to do my duty when this young lady does the doodie, but, well, you know…

I’ve done some reading about language and the fully-wired facility that all human babies have at birth to learn language, so I’m fascinated to listen to her verbalization at the age of 8 months, she clearly is NOT making sounds at random, and so I am sympathetically responding to her, saying “I know you’re talking but I don’t know what you’re saying yet.” I know she’s working hard on understanding what we say to her. I can’t wait for my first opportunity to listen to my sweet granddaughter and say: “I understand!”

Stay tuned…and if you’re already a grandparent, you know how this story turns out!

September 2, 2011

 

In case you were wondering:  Paul Dresser published “Wabash” in 1897, and his wildly popular ballad was one of the earliest pieces of music to be recorded…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Banks_of_the_Wabash,_Far_Away

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2022 All rights reserved.

 

Movie review: Same Time, Next Year

all-American adultery, oh yeah…

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”

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“…watchers in the crystal sphere…”—”Night watch,” a poem

“…watchers in the crystal sphere…”—”Night watch,” a poem

“…a masque of shades…”

 

 

Night watch

 

Waiting in winter

   is easier done in darkness,

night’s hours pass,

for the lone watcher,

en passant, to ease the time,

a masque of shades,

neither droll nor dread.

 

Withal, the ice shines cold,

the snowy crust shines hard,

and star shine lights the way for

   Orion and Aquarius

      and Cassiopeia and the rest,

these watchers in the crystal sphere

   will guard the transit of the moon,

will do for friends who pass the time

   but will not tarry past the dawn.

 

November 5, 2018

Inspired by “Field,” by Roberta Marggraff in the Aurorean, Fall-Winter 2018-2019

My poem “Night watch” was published in my fourth collection of 55 poems, As with another eye: Poems of exactitude. You can buy it and my other poetry books on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, click here

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2022 All rights reserved.

 

A poem about the right thing

…and the lesser incarnation…

“Vanity”

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 always welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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