“…even the smallest step…” says Marcus Aurelius

“…even the smallest step…” says Marcus Aurelius

pass it forward…

 

 

The Roman Stoic Marcus Aurelius (121-180) said

 

“…be satisfied with

even the smallest step forward…”

 

He saw so clearly that it’s a process: achieve that small step, and start working on the next step immediately.

Pass it forward.

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.

 

The Bridges of Madison County

book/movie review

If you’re looking for highly stoked eroticism,

look elsewhere.

click here

–
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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do the bounce thing…“allegro,” my poem

do the bounce thing…“allegro,” my poem

heartbeats on display

 

 

allegro

 

The boy was bouncing,

   hopping, jumping,

he was on the move,

 

kids make their world a motion,

   an energy,

      a swirl,

they test their arms,

   and legs,

      and fingers,

         and their voices,

            and their faces,

 

and ways to look around

   and through their spaces,

and sounds that are new words

   in their worlds,

 

they do not share

   their racing thoughts,

but they put their heartbeats on display,

their disporting has no end.

 

Do you remember that part of you

   is a child?

Will you let that part of you

   bounce with joy?

Your inner child wants to jump,

   now.

 

March 28, 2026

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My poetry. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.

 

The Reader (Der Vorleser)

Not just a rehash of WWII…

by Bernhard Schlink

click here

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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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Carol…a movie review

Carol…a movie review

many splendored smiles…

 

 

Movie review:

Carol

starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara

 

Cate Blanchett has a many-splendored smile. You see several of them in Carol (2015, rated R, 118 minutes).

Blanchett’s smile is deep, almost inexplicably alluring, enduring, and profoundly feminine. Sexy? You decide.

Rooney Mara is an almost new pair of eyes for me (think The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). She uses her face like Blanchett does: her face exalts her feelings, you wouldn’t mind seeing it on a stadium-size screen.

Carol is a 1950s-era exploration of how two ladies can fall in love and then wander in their lives until they figure out what love means. Carol (Blanchett) discovers Therese (Mara)—or is it the other way?—and they can’t escape living their previous lives while they mature into their new life together.

The movie is based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith.

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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”…

click here

–

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

thinking about ducks at sea

thinking about ducks at sea

the ducks don’t think about us…

 

 

“…he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks

etching themselves against the sky over the water,

then blurring, then etching again

and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea.”

 

from:

The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952

127 pages

pp. 60-61

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

Loneliness beyond understanding…

by Herman Melville

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

An Officer and a Gentleman…movie review

An Officer and a Gentleman…movie review

they figured it out…

 

 

Movie review:

An Officer and a Gentleman

 

This is a girl-gets-boy, boy-gets-girl kind of movie, with bells on.

Don’t waste a lot of time being thrilled and appalled by the harsh antics of basic military training—Louis Gossett Jr. won an Oscar for being the tough guy Sgt. Foley, but he is really background for Richard Gere slowly becoming an adult as the wannabe Navy pilot, Zack.

Zack almost without knowing it falls in love with Paula (Debra Winger), a townie who comes to need Zack in her life.

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982, rated R, 124 minutes) is a love story hiding in a coming-of-age movie about a boy and girl who finally figure out how to walk off together.

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Movie review. Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.

 

Book review: “The Gentle Boy”

The Puritans had a dark side…

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

click here

–

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”

*   *   *   *   *   *

“…the consequences of a single deed…”

“…the consequences of a single deed…”

think it over…

 

 

“If all your life you endure

the consequences of a single deed,

then you cannot imagine life before it…”

 

from The Girl at the Lion d’Or

by Sebastian Faulks

New York: Vintage International/Vintage Books/A Division of Random House, Inc., 1989.

246 pages

p. 43

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2026 All rights reserved.

 

Movie review: A Doll’s House

Henrik Ibsen’s classic on abuse…

click here

–

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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