Brandy's Unicorn: Songs of Love and Loss, Faith and Doubt, People and Places, Comedy and Tragedy

By Stan C. Berg

Rhymed verse, blank verse, and free verse poems of love and loss, faith and doubt, people and places, comedy and tragedyslices from the authors life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524609887

Stan C. Berg

Stan C. Berg was born in Panama City, Panama, and raised in Panama and the former Panama Canal Zone. His father was an American civil engineer who went to Panama from North Dakota in 1928 to work on the banana plantations of the United Fruit Company; his mother, who lives in Tampa, Florida (as of this writing), is a native of Panama. Stan is a graduate of Balboa High School and the Canal Zone College (in the old Panama Canal Zone), as well as Florida State University (BA, 1964) and Arizona State University (MA, 1974). After completing OTS in San Antonio, Texas, in 1964, Stan served as a commissioned officer in the US Air Force (including a tour of duty in Thailand during the Vietnam War in 1968–69). Following graduate school, he taught high school English in Arizona public schools for twenty-five years. Mr. Berg and his wife, Dianne, live in Phoenix, Arizona. They have two grown children (Donald and Brandy). Stan and Dianne enjoy reading, writing, watching old movies, foreign travel (six continents), hiking in the Arizona desert, and keeping track of their children and grandchildren. In addition to his poetry writing, Mr. Berg recently finished writing a novel, which he hopes to publish in the near future.

Book preview

BRANDY’S

UNICORN

Songs of Love and Loss, Faith and Doubt, People and Places, Comedy and Tragedy

Stan C. Berg

40670.png

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2016 Stan C. Berg. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/19/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0989-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0988-7 (e)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

PRELUDE

Brandy’s Unicorn

SONGS OF LOVE AND LOSS

Philadelphia

New York

Virginia

Panama Bay

Nefertiti

Trite Lines

Second Chance

What Then?

Lost & Found

Eyes

Los Angeles

Cinquains For Suzie

California

First Light

Sunday Morning

Cinquains For Merrilyn

Phoenix

Heartbreak Ridge

Refund

Mystery Caller

Where Were You Four Years Ago?

Artemis

One

Valentine’s Day

Anniversary

To Lady Di On Our 30Th Wedding Anniversary

LIMERICKS, POLITICS, AND FIDDLESTICKS

Three Limericks

More Educator Limericks

The Killers:

The Morbid Side Of Camelot

Al Heimer

John Mcnasty & Sarah Barracuda

The 2008 Election

Little John: Anno Domini 2015

Tiger Woods

Tallahassee Belle

Pigskin Blues

The People’s Republic Of Oregon

Ducks And Pigeons

The Red Dot

Tidbits

Beltway Blues: Limericks

Steve Benson: Limericks

Lance Armstrong: Limericks

Redskins Is Right!

The New Yorker

Critics And Criticism

SONGS OF FAITH AND DOUBT

Credo

Rolling Thunder

Vincit Qui Se Vincit

The City O’ Holy Light

Alice Springs

Siddhartha

Thank God

Arthur Itis

God Is A Humorist

Bitter, Nasty, And Negative

The Seasons

Browning

The Best Way To Die

Pushing Sixty-Seven

Reflections On A Visit To The Serengeti & Olduvai Gorge

Now I …

Dichotomies

God Is Strange

God Is Not Strange: He Is Misunderstood

The Best & Worst Three Things In Life

God Forbid!

BIG SKY POEMS

Colorado

Montana Names

Jewel Of Old Montana

Montana Saturday Night

White Magic

West Road

Arizona Names

Arizona And Michigan

Texas Blues

Sweet Liberty

BIG CITIES, SMALL TOWNS & SACRED PLACES: SKETCHES

Panama City, Panama

Tallahassee, Florida

San Antonio, Texas

Lewistown, Montana

Norfolk, Virginia

Bangkok, Thailand

Pensacola, Florida

Phoenix, Arizona

Cairo, Egypt

Jerusalem, Israel

Rome, Italy

Bavaria, Germany

Athens, Greece

Istanbul, Turkey

Mumbai, India

Teotihuacan, Mexico

Manaus, Brazil

Machu-Pichu, Peru

Can-Cun, Mexico

Nairobi, Kenya

Barrow, Alaska

Wadi-Rum, Jordan

Beijing, China

Tahiti, French Polynesia

Prescott, Arizona

POST SCRIPT

Day And Night

For my beloved daughter, Jacqueline Brandy Berg

and

In memory of Dr. Dorothy Moody, Professor of English,

Canal Zone College

PRELUDE

BRANDY’S UNICORN

Strawberry Unicorn,

    Rose with a thorn;

Redder than Aurora,

    To the manner born.

Strawberry Unicorn

    With lance unshorn;

Redder than blood

    On the Matterhorn.

Strawberry Unicorn,

    Child of scorn;

Redder than shame

    Of a heart forsworn.

Strawberry Unicorn,

    From Fairyland borne;

Redder than rubies

    On the Golden Horn.

Strawberry Unicorn,

    So forlorn;

Redder than eyes

    Of a love outworn.

Strawberry Unicorn,

    Come blow your horn.

Follow the rainbow

    To a dream unborn!

SONGS OF LOVE AND LOSS

PHILADELPHIA

In Philadelphia that year,

In the chill, Christmas weather;

My arms first held you

And winter smiled,

Our hearts and lips together.

NEW YORK

Our day in New York!

Can I ever forget?

You looked so pretty

In your scarf and coat,

But still the wind

Made you shiver.

We went to the Park,

And the Planetarium,

And the Village.

And I remember

We took the bus

And I kissed you,

Under the Hudson River …

VIRGINIA

We were married in Norfolk

And began a new life.

Our wedding night in Williamsburg

    was perfect

For a Virginia wife …

PANAMA BAY

We flew back to Panama

(Bridge of the Americas)

And put our cares away.

We drove down to The Valley

And up to The Bell.

And I remember we walked

To the end of the beach

At Santa Clara one day …

Did either one of us know

We had bridged two lives

The first time we gazed

At the far horizon

Across Panama Bay?

NEFERTITI

The first time I saw her,

She walked into the room

And said, Hi, I’m Sue ––—.

And, Holy Smoke, I swear

My mind went numb!

How do you do, I said.

And then I think I swallowed

Hard; and I remember my breath

Came a little short, and

My speech a little dumb.

Then she took her seat,

And I thought, "Sue"—?

‘A rose by any other name … ’

No! Not Sue—NEFERTITI!

‘The Beautiful One Is Come.’

TRITE LINES

Written in a high school yearbook

for a young woman feeling the pain of

first love

Love’s labours rise,

Love’s labours fall.

But never doubt:

LOVE CONQUERS

ALL.

Be true, be real,

Though worst befall.

And never doubt:

LOVE CONQUERS

ALL.

SECOND CHANCE

Barbara, Barbara—

I love that name!

Sweet, precious one,

You’re still the same.

We loved before,

I bear the blame.

I broke your heart,

I feel the shame.

My love’s reborn,

You kept the flame.

Love never died,

My heart now claim!

WHAT THEN?

I count the days and hours

Till I see and hold you once again.

Oh, lovely little lady!

If I fall in love with you, what then?

LOST & FOUND

I found you again,

And after all these years.

I hope now I can keep you,

And no more tears.

EYES

How

Very

Strange

It seems to be

So close to you

And chat and look into

Your knowing eyes.

The crowded teachers’ lounge

Buzzes with the morning babble.

Good morning, Mr. ––-.

Good morning, Mrs. ––-.

How’s everything with you?

Just fine. And you?

I’m fine, too.

My God, the lies!

Except our

Eyes.

Except

Our

Eyes.

No

One

Belies

Our alibis!

Who could surmise

That just a few short hours ago

I pressed your sweet mouth to mine,

Fingered loose the buttons of your blouse,

Put you gently on the pillows

And the sheets, supine,

And finally made you

Mine, all mine!

How deeply

I despise the lies

And prize the truth

And trust

Confided

Only by

Our

Eyes!

My

God,

How

Calm we are.

So self-controlled!

No one must ever spy

Our act and