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Poetry, book reviews, reflections, and straight talk by Editor and Author Richard Subber.
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Poetry and insights
I’m in love with words, and I love to use the right words to create poems that have clarity and character. 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 very thoughtful observations, and very 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.
Heart of Darkness…book review
Joseph Conrad’s deep dive
“zéphyr,” music, sing…my poem
one more harmony
“…the tongue is a fire…”…James 3:6
how does it taste?
“…a siren’s song…”…a new book, my poem
a symphony of words
“the quiet fire and you…”…“Reverie,” my poem
your happy smiles
Book Reviews and insights
Reading is part of my life. Old books are companions—they have a palpable essence that will never be duplicated in an eBook reader. I can live with books, inter librorum copias. I don’t read too many novels, although I’m partial to 19th century American and English writers like Dickens and Hawthorne and O. Henry. I’m happy when I’m reading aloud. I wish that I may live long enough to read at least most of the books in my library.
Friends Divided…off the mark, a book review
not Gordon Wood’s best
Battle of Wits…crypto in WWII…book review
surprise! personalities were important…
The Witches, 1692…book review
a community gone crazy…
Scaramouche…boy gets girl…book review
Rafael Sabatini at his romantic best
Saint Joan, by Bernard Shaw…book review
she didn’t understand…
Historical insights
I think it’s difficult to be a sensitive and sensible human being without some knowledge of history and its enduring elements. An insufficient understanding of history is an impediment to decent participation in human society. I am particularly intrigued by the systematic methods of the French Annalistes to examine the deep structures (longues durées) of history. Awareness and understanding of history allows us to create and sustain a mindful context for our past and present adventures.
Crazy Horse…book review
…a loner and a lone eagle, says Larry McMurtry
The Nurses: Episodes 1-16…book review
by Janet Kovarik, a storyteller…
Essays Toward a Historical Theory of Big Business
The Essential Alfred Chandler…book review
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War…book review
William Manchester’s nightmare…
21 Lessons for the 21st Century…book review
Yuval Harari is a teacher
The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family…book review
he wasn’t the only one…
A Short History of the World in 50 Places…book review
Jacob Fields does the pique thing…
Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300…book review
Peter Heather tells a new story
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams…book review
Stacy Schiff teaches more…
With the Old Breed…book review
the prayers of E. B. Sledge, a warfighter
Politics: thoughts and insights
Yelling isn’t my style. I am a committed and, I think, well-informed liberal progressive. It’s my intention to avoid presenting any political commentaries that are doctrinaire, abusive, deliberately hateful or contrary to “…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind…” Maybe you’ll recognize those words from the Declaration of Independence. I respect the value and the necessity of dedicated support for the preservation of the public good. I’m willing to offer my considerations of what constitutes the public good.
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism (book review)
Martin Wolf teaches about trust…
The Ghost at the Feast (book review)
Robert Kagan tells new truths…
Bitterly Divided: The South’s Inner Civil War (book review)
David Williams says secession wasn’t popular
What It Is Like to Go to War (book review)
Karl Marlantes tells the ugly story
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis (book review)
by Jared Diamond…frank and frightening
“Pick battles…small enough to win.” Kozol (quote)
Daniel Berrigan talks about evil…
1491 by Charles Mann (book review)
…lost American legacies
The Last European War (book review)
it’s by John Lukacs, dig in…
Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power (book review)
Pekka Hämäläinen tells it like it was…
What’s Wrong with Economics? A Primer for the Perplexed (book review)
Robert Skidelsky rebuts “Homo economicus”
Tidbits
Occasional items that tickle your funny bone, or point your mind in a new direction, or invite you to stop for a moment and listen to what your heart is telling you.
Scaramouche…boy gets girl…book review
Rafael Sabatini at his romantic best
it’s the not knowing…Anne Lamott quote
it’s okay to not know
Saint Joan, by Bernard Shaw…book review
she didn’t understand…
Pale Rider, pale horse…movie review
another side of Clint Eastwood
On Chesil Beach…book review
Ian McEwan tells a backstory of love
It’s a novel, stupid…The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand’s talent was writing novels
“…be ready for every good work.”
real good advice
The Paris Wife…book review
Hemingway wasn’t really a nice fella…
Cave of Bones…Homo naledi…book review
there were more of us…
the kings that sit on the ground…
Book of Sirach, 10:5, KJV