Poems of a Romantic

By Xlibris US

The 1950s and 60's gave way to Rock and Roll songs and the days when we didn't lock our home upon leaving. This special era brought forth true love for the innocent. These were the times when falling in love meant forever. When families gathered and enjoyed home cooking. When love and respect for elders meant something.

Poems of a Romantic touches upon the times when marriage meant living happily ever after. It touches preserves the love of family.

Poems of a Romantic pays tribute to the kindness of Princess Diana. To the bravery of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. To the beauty, and softness of Antoinette Marie DeAngelis, my wife.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499041194

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Brandon E. Mena.

Library of Congress Control Number:     2014911813

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 07/22/2014

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Table of Contents

Disclosure

Dedication

Prologue

Camelot

Chapter One

Poems

The Touch of a Woman

Your Wishes

Embarrassed as you smiled

You said no

Captured

Matching Red Hearts

Cupid’s Arrow

First glance

Doomed

Forever netted

Do Something

If ever

Glimpses

Memorials fit for a Queen

Through it all…….

Antoinette Marie

By the memory

of each moment

My first butterfly

At the Camelback Hyatt Regency

Arizona Biltmore

My other butterflies

Our Love Affair

How to handle a woman

Once you have found her

Gravity

The God Particle

A Thousand Points of Light

If it were not so

My Mission Statement

Chapter two

Miracles

Miguel

Lady at Black Angus

White Marble

Saving of my son

Daddy they slashed my tires

He said there is nothing…..

Under the car I went

The Carport

Down the Salt River

Car number 6

South Dakota’s Mt. Rushmore

Angels

I have life because of him

I have life because of her

Rescued

Chapter Three

Short Writings

A Toast

My Pecan Pie

The love of a family

David and Ellen

Tom and Debbie

Stevie

Sammy and Helga

Chapter Four

Short Writings

The Arizona I know

The Arizona Song

The Moon, the Road and You

The Discombobulated Chicken

Arizona Moon Rise

Chapter Five

Tributes

Princess of Wales

Tribute to Whitney Houston

Tribute to Charles Lindbergh

Tribute to Charles Chuck Yeager

Tribute to Valentina Tereshkova

Diana Nyad

Amelia Earhart

Chapter Six

If you must fly

If you must fly

Ocean Blue

Cold Blue Waters

Ode from my son……..

My Dad

At the end of a man’s life

Poems of a Romantic

Rocks

As Good As It Gets

Comet Ison

Bibliography

Epilogue

Disclosure

Writing brings me solace. Within the solace I am able to find peace. It is a sort of comfort that only it can provide. If only for a moment, it sets my spirit free. My mind wonders aimlessly. There is no right and there is no wrong, things just are. Writing just flows.

What is right and what is wrong you ask? The answers lie deep within our soul. Tranquility is a place I go to. Peace needs no explanation.

During a recent interview Oliver Stone, the great producer and director: JFK, Wall Street, Born on the 4th of July, Nixon, Bush, to name a few once told Dan Rather, former CBS anchor: All I ever wanted, was to just fit in. Like Oliver Stone, all of my life I too have wanted to just fit in. I think, most of us, in a way, feel that same need to just fit in.

Poems of a Romantic reveals our love and compassion for one another. It gives praise to achievements of both men and women in different parts of the world. Poems of a Romantic is not meant as a vehicle to convert anyone in or out of any religious faith. My comments on this matter are strictly my own. While you may find me eccentric as I go from one topic to another, cynicism and narcissism are not part of who I am.

My beautiful wife took a leap of faith by bringing me into her family. During our courtship I begged her to let me go. I was not economically grounded and didn’t even have a

Reviews for Poems of a Romantic

[benkaboo-51322 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Driven guy takes things a bit too far and ends up creating something that destroys everything:

Things I liked.

Introducing the main protaganist through the eyes of a secondary category. This reminded me a bit of Gatsby and Nick.

Good questions/ideas: The 'Other', obsession, what is human etc. Good fodder for thinking/rethinking about what you believe.

Things I thought could be improved:

Main character is pretty whiney, and doesn't really take a lot of responsbility for his actions. It makes him hard to relate to a bit unlikeable. Given most of the story is told through his eyes that's a problem. I'd probably recommend giving him a bit more self-awareness at the end, preserving his stupidity in the main story, to increase the sense of empathy and connection with his tale.

Some of the plotting is a bit far fetched and obviously contrived to drive the story. In particular I remember when he decides to reveal his secret to Elizabeth but only 'after' their fateful wedding day. If he was going to be truthful with her wouldn't he/she do it immediately. .

Highlight:

Probably when the 'other' spoke for the first time. Hollywood had taught me to expect one thing. I was pretty taken aback and appreciated the variation.

Lessons Learned:

Chill out in life or you might find the object of your obsession ends up wrecking all the good things you have in your life.

[shamille_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

OMG THIS IS A GREAT BOOK AND YOU HAVE TO READ IT RIGHT NOW. I mean it. go to your library. RIGHT NOW. Well. After you finish reading this >:3This is about Victor Frankenstein, who is so interested in science etc, that he creates a monster. and once he creates this monster, it ruins his life. The hideous being of his creation kills people, who don't accept him, and threatens Victor, leading him and following him everywhere.That's basically all this story is about. It's great though. it's suspenseful and v. deep: like the monster striving for acceptance and humanity and... like he's intelligent and he feels things but in the end he is still a horrible, ugly monster, inside and out. And Victor is battling within himself to: protect his family by being a coward and catering to the monster? or be brave and kill him, to protect everyone... it's... JUST READ IT. GO NOW.Also there's lots of nice vocab words.

[morgandax · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I hate to say it, but I didn't enjoy the writing style. I wasn't expecting the 'letter' format (where the story is told via a series of letters sent between various characters) so that threw me off from the beginning, and while eventually I was able to get into it and get past that annoyance, I found the story lagged a bit because of it. It's a product of its time.

This is a classic that anyone remotely into horror should probably try to read, the story is excellent, but unfortunately, at least for me, the writing hasn't aged well.

[caterpillarqueenie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was good:)

[niquetteb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Frankenstein created a hman being and was disgusted by him. He spent a long time in a state of delirium. He sought after his creature ntil his own death grasped him. Shelley is not a very talented writer.

[csweder · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic.