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”
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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.
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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
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
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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”
Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.
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by Richard Subber | Aug 28, 2025 | Human Nature, Reflections, Tidbits
Remember to forget…
“We need both—
remembering and forgetting—
to keep us balanced.
Remember with understanding—
and sometimes remember to forget.”
The wisdom of the Sequichie of the Cherokees
We’re not talking about forgetfulness here, we’re talking about letting stuff go…
We’re talking about not bringing it up any more…
We’re talking about remembering that each of us has done some things that are better forgotten…
We’re talking about remembering the good that’s been done, and not forgetting to pass it forward.
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Poets talk about poetry
…a red hot bucket of love…
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Aug 26, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections, Tidbits
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
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
The Scarlet Letter, victim of Hollywood
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s version is best
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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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by Richard Subber | Aug 12, 2025 | Reflections, Tidbits
this is so simple…
“Time is more complex near the sea
than in any other place…”
Just think for a sec—how many watches do you need?
From Tortilla Flat in The Short Novels of John Steinbeck, by John Steinbeck with an introduction by Joseph Henry Jackson, New York: The Viking Press, orig. copy. 1953, 1963.
527 pages
p. 109
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
The Reader (Der Vorleser)
Not just a rehash of WWII…
by Bernhard Schlink
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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”
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by Richard Subber | Aug 9, 2025 | My poetry, Poetry, Reflections
sand is humble…
my sand
When did I first know
that inside of me
some part is ocean?
I feel the gift
of a swelling crest,
I carry little waves
to make a shore
wherever I may need
to stop and rest,
I see afar with eyes of birds,
I skim a surf
where no one goes,
I walk with you
and wonder
that we may have different sand
between our toes,
the breaker sound
is a familiar call,
you may hear me hum
but can you hear
my offshore breeze,
the plover’s song that
lingers at my ear?
The ocean part of me is older, noisier,
easier, light like driftwood,
calm as sunsets,
sure as tides,
bright as sunrise,
as humble as sand,
eternal like blue water.
April 26, 2025
Inspired by a haiku by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer, April 20, 2025.
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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.
Book review: Shantung Compound
They didn’t care much
about each other…
by Langdon Gilkey
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Above all: Poems of dawn and more with 73 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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