by Richard Subber | Dec 4, 2025 | American history, Book reviews, Books, History, Human Nature, Reflections
the far side of yourself…
Book review:
The Things They Carried
by Tim O’Brien (b1946)
New York: Broadway Books, 1990
273 pages
Tim O’Brien is a Vietnam war veteran.
If you served in the Vietnam war, you have a perspective for reading The Things They Carried.
If you didn’t go to Vietnam, you have a different perspective.
If you weren’t born until after the war ended, you have a different perspective.
Tim O’Brien speaks to you, read his words any way you want.
All of us are still carrying some of the things we carried in those years.
Can anyone point to feelings that haven’t changed since then?
Whether you’re a veteran or not, O’Brien invites you to get “in touch with the far side of yourself” (p. 123).
The Things They Carried is about burdens and our capacity to accept them.
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Book review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: To Serve Them All My Days
by R. F. Delderfield
A beloved teacher,
you know this story…
–
many waters: more poems with 53 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 | Nov 29, 2025 | Human Nature, Reflections, Tidbits
we made our present…
“…if we persevere and remain generous of heart,
we may be granted
a moment of supreme lucidity—
a moment in which all that has happened to us
suddenly comes into focus
as a necessary course of events…”
from A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles (b1964)
New York: Penguin Books, 2016
462 pages
p. 441
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
84, Charing Cross Road (book review)
Helene Hanff, on reading good books…
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Nov 25, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
no clock needed for dancing…
daily
The arrow of time flies high
and low and ever on,
and sometimes slow,
time creeps, betimes,
a pause is not unknown…
My time’s my own,
I guard it
when there is no room for dancing…
July 12, 2025
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Snow Goose
…sensual drama, eminently poetic…
by Paul Gallico
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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 | Nov 20, 2025 | Human Nature, Joys of reading, Language, Reflections
take time to share…
“In the life of each of us, I said to myself,
there is a place remote and islanded,
and given to endless regret or secret happiness…”
from
Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels and Stories
by Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909)
The Library of America
New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1994
937 pages
p. 444
…sharing is what comes to my mind
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
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My first name was rain: A dreamery of poems with 52 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 | Nov 18, 2025 | Human Nature, Language, My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
“…sounds that do not invite love…”
I know that much of ordinary human conversation
is essentially gossip about people we know,
experiences we’ve shared, and everyday occurrences.
Technically, even if you think you don’t gossip,
most likely you do quite a bit, every day.
Babel
The buzz of the crowd.
Social noise is so tolerable,
so remarkably incidental,
essentially careless communication,
public talk for private ears,
an imperative stream of disposable words.
Profoundly human noise.
No other creature babbles while feeding and drinking,
no other creature squanders such precious energy
to make noises that do not bring food,
to utter sounds that do not invite love
and do not demand respect.
No other creature is so fond of gabble,
so willing to abandon privacy
and say so many words
that almost no one wants to hear.
December 5, 2015
Pervasive gossip, de facto, is neither good nor bad. Most human beings incessantly communicate with each other.
My point is that gossiping in public can be noisy, intrusive, distracting, wondrously irrelevant, and, occasionally, disgusting. Usually, I really don’t want to hear your half of the cell phone conversation.
Now, talking—that’s a different story.
Talk it over with your friends.
My poem “Babel” 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”
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Movie review: Same Time, Next Year
all-American adultery, oh yeah…
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 | Nov 13, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
my reflective poem,
written with an offshore breeze…
Remembrances
(Je me souviens)
Airs and airs, brisking through the afternoon,
fill my ears with ruffling sound,
and fully charge my mind with half-drawn shapes,
many half-thought fancies,
and many second memories
of once-remembered moments in the afternoon.
September 18, 2015
You’ve listened to this kind of breeze at the seashore. It’s not strange that it never stops. These airs are reminders of the ways we’ve turned our heads, so many times, to face a new direction or an old reality. I stood on First Encounter Beach, in Eastham on Cape Cod, at high tide in the late afternoon. I wasn’t alone but I kept my thoughts to myself at the time. I’m not sure I was fully conscious of everything I was thinking. I do know that I remembered a couple things for the second time, and that was good.
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My poem “Remembrances” was published in my first collection of 59 poems, Writing Rainbows: Poems for Grown-Ups.
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: A Cold Welcome
The culprit was global cooling,
500 years ago…
by Sam White
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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