by Richard Subber | Aug 27, 2026 | American history, History, Human Nature, Politics, Power and inequality
Do a good thing today…
“…the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1913-2005)
You remember…Rosa Parks wouldn’t give her seat
to a white man on the bus in Montgomery in 1955…
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
The Scarlet Letter, victim of Hollywood
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s version is best
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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 | Aug 23, 2026 | Theater and play reviews
sure, but…
Movie review:
Doubt
If certainty is your thing, this just isn’t the movie for you.
If you’re willing to share the numbing bleakness of a wish for certainty that gets chased by doubts, the little ones and the big ones, then Doubt is the ticket.
Meryl Streep is the hard-charging Sister Aloysius who’s all too ready to nail the apparent child-abusing priest in her school. Philip Seymour Hoffman is Father Flynn, who acts and talks guilty and innocent in scene after scene. Amy Adams is Sister James, who wants to believe him even though she personally experiences some of the putative evidence against him.
Doubt (2008, rated PG-13, 104 minutes) offers dramatic potency, high-class personality clashes, and deep, deep ambiguity in the final scenes that will not satisfy you, but will tie your emotions in a knot.
There’s no doubt about that.
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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: The Scarlet Letter
the beating hearts…by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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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 9, 2026 | Language, Poetry, Reviews of other poets, Tidbits
…words can be pictures…
“The world is never the same
once a good poem has been added to it.”
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
Welsh poet and writer
Dylan could have said “A poet is never the same after writing a good poem,” or “A person is never the same after reading or hearing a good poem.”
I’m in love with words, and I love to use the best words to create poems that have clarity and character.
Sometimes I think of my work as “literal poetry.” I don’t put my pen down until I’ve said exactly what I feel, exactly what I mean to say, so that you, as the reader or listener, will have no doubt about it. I want to write poems that don’t need to be explained—what you see is what it is. I want to write poems that express deep human emotions, and thoughtful observations, and precise meanings.
I am a poet, a writer, a teacher, a moralist, a historian, and an unflinching student of human nature. I think a lot. I strive to express truth and give context—both rational and emotional—to reality.
I think words can be pictures, and lovely songs, and bodacious scents, and private flavors, and early morning caresses that wake each part of me, one at a time. I know some of those words, and, from time to time, I write some of them.
I read a lot of poetry, including the classic poets like Homer and poets in America and poets around the world who have written since ancient times to modern times. Occasionally I find a poem, or a phrase, or an image that is intensely intuitive, or wonderfully imaginative, or just plain beautiful. I offer those words from other poets for your enjoyment.
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
“Fishering,” by Brian Doyle
…what meets the eye…
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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 | Jul 30, 2026 | Human Nature, Tidbits
Tina was my favorite kicker.
“You can’t dance in a long dress.”
Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner) (1939-2023)
The simple truths may not be the true-est, but they are the most remember-ful.
I’m a Tina Turner fan, and after reading this terpsichorean quote, I understand even better exactly why I’m a Tina Turner fan.
Tina was the exotic essence of vitality, with a decent dose of sexuality and a potent dollop of magnificent obsession.
When Tina performed, she was All.
All in, all out, all Tina, all right, all zippity, all extra well done, all flash dance without the welding helmet.
I think Tina had no intention to titillate when she said “You can’t dance in a long dress.”
I think she purely meant to make it real clear that you have to be able to kick when you’re proving to yourself that you’re alive. Alive!
Dance like no one is watching you!
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: Lafayette by Harlow Unger
He was a great man. Also rich and lucky.
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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 | Jul 26, 2026 | Theater and play reviews
running in the sea breeze…
Movie review:
Albert Nobbs
It’s an obvious story line, and you can sorta guess how Albert Nobbs (2011, rated R, 113 minutes) will end.
Glenn Close rather convincingly plays a woman who passes for a man (“Albert Nobbs”) in a posh hotel in late 19th century Ireland where appearances matter. She makes a life.
She meets Janet McTeer who, as “Hubert Page,” treads a similar path and who, like “Albert,” tries to fool herself about her prospects for happiness.
There are caricature secondary characters, an exaggerated unlikable hotel owner, and an ill-fated two-dimensional love affair.
There is a brief rapturous scene at the seashore where “Albert” and “Hubert” let their woman selves run in the breezes.
The best moments make Albert Nobbs watchable.
Disconnect (I’m avoiding a spoiler alert): the ending is not about “Albert Nobbs.” It’s sweet. It’s Nobbsian. It’s other.
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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
The “dime novels” in the Civil War
Think “blood-and-thunder”…
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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 | Jul 21, 2026 | Tidbits
Yeah, sure, M*A*S*H, okay…
The average American today wasn’t alive
when Saturday Night Live did the first live broadcast
in October 1975.
If you’re like me, you cherish your memories of The Good Ones who made SNL a hit: I’m talking Chevy, John, Dan, Gilda, Garrett, Jane, and Laraine, you know who I’m talking about.
Pick your favorite, right? C’mon, nobody can pick one favorite out of that lineup.
For starters, Roseanne Roseannadanna. Love ya, Gilda. Priceless. Non pareil.
And then there was the “Point/Counterpoint” commentary with Dan and Jane, that ignorant slut.
I could go on.
Of course it’s true that SNL today isn’t what it used to be.
I think all the diamonds were polished in the 1970s.
OK, OK, M*A*S*H was a contender, I figured you’d bring that up.
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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.
Book review: American Colonies
So many and so much
came before the Pilgrims
by Alan Taylor
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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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