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    American Heritage Poetry Collection
    American Heritage Poetry Collection
    American Heritage Poetry Collection
    Ebook261 pages1 hour

    American Heritage Poetry Collection

    By LTC Roy E. Peterson

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    American Heritage contains a comprehensive collection of the best poetry previously published in three volumes, Beyond Darkness and Light, Guardian Angel and American Heartland Poetry. Roy Peterson is the quintessential poetry and prose author hearkening back to the great poets in the Pantheon that is the American Heritage of Poetry. Compare his works to Wordsworth, Longfellow, Poe, and Frost for subject variety, style variations, and readable yet complex thought integration making him the poet of and for everyone.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateDec 18, 2012
    ISBN9781477297278
    American Heritage Poetry Collection
    Author

    LTC Roy E. Peterson

    LTC Roy E. Peterson authored three books of poetry “Beyond Darkness and Light” (2011), “Guardian Angel” (2012), and “American Heartland Poetry, Wit, and Wisdom”. In recent years he authored six more books of fiction, nonfiction, relationships, and juvenile literature. LTC Peterson was born and raised in South Dakota, the American Heartland, and then moved with his family to Texas at the age of thirteen. His writings bear testimony to his diverse experiences both in growing to manhood and then becoming a Military Intelligence Officer and analyzing Soviet/Russian military and foreign policy. A graduate of Hardin-Simmons University (BA degree) in Abilene, Texas, LTC Peterson holds three Masters degrees in Business (University of Phoenix), International Relations (University of Southern California) and Political Science (University of Arizona). His first poem was published while at Hardin-Simmons University. LTC Peterson served in the Army as Commander, Portal Monitoring, of Soviet missiles under the INF Treaty for the On-Site Inspection Agency, Military Intelligence and Security Advisor to the Army Staff in the Pentagon, Commander of a Military Intelligence Company in Germany for the 66th MI Group, and Assistant Army Attaché in Moscow. Roy Peterson was selected by the US Department of Commerce as the First Foreign Commercial Officer in the Russian Far East at the newly opened US Consulate in Vladivostok, Russia and as a Visa Issuing Officer for the US Department of State. IBM offered and he accepted a position as the first IBM Regional Manager in the Russian Far East, a territory the size of the continental United States. More recently, Roy Peterson taught Elites in Government, American History Since 1945, Marketing, and Global Management for the University of Phoenix in San Diego and Southern California. He opened an international trade business and sold product to foreign countries.

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      Book preview

      American Heritage Poetry Collection - LTC Roy E. Peterson

      AuthorHouse™

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.authorhouse.com

      Phone: 1-800-839-8640

      © 2013 by LTC Roy E. Peterson. 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 12/12/2012

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-9728-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-9726-1 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-9727-8 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012923279

      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.

      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.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      DEDICATION

      FOREWORD

      PART I   MY COUNTRY

      Awake Young Eagles

      Fight For Right

      May Old Glory Always Wave

      Rend The Night

      Fight Of The Phoenix

      PART II   MY SOCIETY

      Coal Eyes

      I Watched A Country Lose Her Soul

      Our Selfishness

      Bank Robbers Robbed Us Again

      Beware The Ivy Bound Towers

      Twinkies Forever

      PART III   MY HERITAGE

      American Heartland

      Farmer Of The Forties

      South Dakota Boy

      Lilacs And Roses

      Battle Of Bonesteel

      PART IV   MY NATURE OBSERVATIONS

      Night Storm

      New Birth

      A Brook’s Way

      The Sea

      Paradise Found

      Little Trick Of Laughing

      The World’s With You

      Pane Of Another Day

      Clear Image

      The Best Comes Last

      Take A Step

      Contrast

      A Day Of Grace

      One Spring Day

      PART V   MY FAMILY

      Tribute To Dad

      Elegy For Mom

      Grandfather Of The Middle Prairie

      PART VI   MY MUSIC

      Blackberry Picking Morning, Minnesota Kind-Of-A-Day

      Tucson Sunday Morning

      All My Tomorrows: Wedding Song

      Lost Miner

      I May Never Pass This Way Again

      I’ll Meet You Tomorrow

      Becky Was A Twirler

      Last Date (Tune Of Last Date)

      Pretty Little Texas Girls (Music)

      PART VII   MY HISTORY AND LEGENDS

      The Legend Of Texas Trooper Sammy Long

      The Trapeze Artist Who Never Left

      How Maximilian Lost His Treasure

      Billy Sol And The Fertilizer Tanks

      My Texas Hometown Confessions

      Million Barrel Oil Tank

      PART VIII   MY LOVE POEMS

      Finding Your Love

      Wishing

      Cup Of Love

      Precious Promises: Now We’re Engaged

      Love In The Afterglow

      Life And Death Of Jeannie

      PART IX   MY HUMOR

      How To Hit Upon A Girl

      Love My Soda In A Bottle

      Southern Rebel

      I Shot An Arrow

      Ode To Toilet Paper

      Don’t You Think It Is A Crime When A Poem Doesn’t Rhyme

      Fractured Birthday Greetings

      When All Else Fails

      How I Got Divorced

      You Warped Me

      Facebook Follies

      King David

      Fill My Facebook

      Publicus

      Disappearing Ink

      PART X   MY HOLIDAYS

      A Furtive Valentine

      Impish Irish And St Patrick’s Day

      Memorial Day 1955

      Fall Fantasy

      Halloween Trick

      Halloween 2012

      Thanksgiving 2012

      First Of December

      Christmas Letter 2009

      If There Were No Christmas

      I’ll Never Forget The Christmas

      Christmas Letter 2012

      New Years Eve

      PART XI   MY MYSTICAL MOMENTS

      I Believe In Angels

      I Am Your Guardian Angel

      Counter Invictus?

      Though Worlds May Die And Silent Be

      Someone Who Wasn’t There

      Poe Would Approve

      In The Dark Of The Night

      My Soul To Take

      Phantom Girl In My Dreams

      What Sweet Madness

      There Is A Secret Garden

      Heavenly Body

      Ghosts Of Old Mhs

      PART XII   MY MEMORIES

      I Am The Keeper Of Memories

      If I Could Go Back In Time

      I’m Yesterdays Fool

      A Birthday Wish To A Friend

      My Heart Was Foolish Once Again

      PART XIII   MY THOUGHTS

      Decisions, Decisions

      Avoiding The Abyss

      Explaining The Unexplainable

      Facebook Fears

      I’m Sorry I’m Not Perfect

      Baggage

      Roses And Dirt Bags

      The Poet And The Painter: Introspection

      On Greatness

      Some Things Drive Me Crazy

      Crusader

      Boats And I Do Not Agree

      My Promise

      My Prayer

      Advice From Marine Colonels

      Looking For Your Sanity

      Vampires Of New England

      Velvet Hammer

      Doggerel Days

      Me, My Boss, And Corresponding Lady Friend

      Patience Is A Virtue

      Treasures In Heaven

      Ode To The Narcissist

      Love At Lost Lake

      The Ice Cream Truck

      My Litter Box

      Dickens On The Strand

      PART XIV   ANIMAL CRACKERS

      If I Were An Animal, Which One Would I Be?

      Badger, Badger

      My Neighbor’s Dog

      Seattle Slew

      Bees

      You At The Zoo

      Animal Crackers

      If I Ran The Rodeo

      My Perfect Pet

      Books Authored by LTC Roy E. Peterson

      Albert: The Cat That Thought He Could Fly (Juvenile)

      American Attache in the Moscow Maelstrom (Cold War History)

      American Heartland Poet (Poetry)

      Between Darkness and Light (Poetry)

      Fight of the Phoenix (Vietnam War History)

      Guardian Angel: All My Tomorrows (Poetry)

      Iron Ikon (Historical Fiction about US Foreign Commercial

      Officer Service/Diplomat/Foreign Service)

      Magnetism to Marriage (PreMarriage Relationships)

      Russian Romance (Historical Fiction about IBM Penetration of

      the Russian Far East)

      Soviet Intelligence Process (Out of Print)

      Books Planned by LTC Roy E. Peterson

      American Agenda: Regeneration Blueprint (Politics)

      Maturity: Mind Over Matter (Relationships)

      Intelligence: Collection, Collation, and Communication

      (Government)

      Order of the Delta Dragon (Historical Fiction)

      Power of the Pentagon (History)

      Precious Promises: Engagement Means Commitment

      (Relationships)

      Victorville Visions: Development, Disappointment, and Drama

      (Historical Business Fiction)

      DEDICATION

      American Heritage Poetry Collection

      LTC Roy E. Peterson, January 2013

      American Heritage Poetry Collection is dedicated:

      To inventors and achievers,

      To aspirers and believers,

      To writers and their readers,

      To the honest and good deeders.

      To industrial manufacturers,

      To entrepreneurs and lecturers,

      To the nurses and to preachers.

      To our parents and to teachers.

      To the patriots and good soldiers,

      To the life and character molders,

      To the men who move the boulders,

      To the younger and the older.

      To the farmer and the fireman,

      To the cleaners with the dustpan,

      To the family and the clansman,

      To the cook stirring in her saucepan.

      Roy Peterson

      Tucson, Arizona

      January 2013

      FOREWORD

      The American Heritage Poetry Collection

      This collection of poetry is as diverse as America and as thought provoking as the passionate people inhabiting its expansive borders. In the confines of this tome are combined fifty years of poetry, running from 1962 to 2012. I provided the dates of first writing on the majority of the poems and they incorporate the decades and gaps in writing in the later decades until personal rediscovery of the early years of love, romance, nature, and social critique matched by more recent reflections on past life and the approaching departure from my earthly home.

      As most poets do, I found the need for a collected works edition. I used virtually every poem that I deemed worthy of inclusion in my life works volume from three volumes of poetry:

      Between Darkness and Light: Coal Eyes and Fight for Right, is a focused collection of early works that were the basis for songs, readings, and personal presentations to friends and relatives.

      Guardian Angel was my resurrection of poetic passion as I wrote a song for my son’s wedding; historical figures and events of my second home, which was in the oilfields of West Texas; and introspective, reflective, and humorous poems sculpted in 2011 and early 2012.

      American Heartland is being published at approximately the same time as this comprehensive American Heritage collection. Many of these poems were written with greater intensity after ruminating through the classics that I loved.

      All three volumes are worthy of purchase not just for the poetry, but for the extensive and often humorous lists, witty sayings and proverbs with twists, and wisdom that is exuded throughout the volumes.

      I may never return to preparing a full volume of poetry and anticipate being content to let this stand as my seminal work in the field.

      PART I

      MY COUNTRY

      img1.jpg

      By Dawn’s Early Light Painting by Edward Moran

      AWAKE YOUNG EAGLES

      By Roy E. Peterson (1976)

      Awake young eagles! Rise and spread

      Your wings of glory overhead.

      Descend from mountain crevices,

      And lend to us your services.

      Tell your fathers strong and proud

      That freedom cast aside its shroud

      To join us on this foreign strand,

      Where it was safe from monarch’s hand.

      From every craggy mountain top

      Young eagles rise and naught can stop

      Your daring exploits for the cause

      Of Freedom’s plea to form new laws.

      Let’s set for every man the right

      Of trial by jury, not by might.

      Let’s build freedom’s sacred house,

      And give democracy a spouse.

      A new breed will come to plow the land,

      Cut down the wilderness by hand.

      A strong and great and mighty man

      Will be one called American.

      FIGHT FOR RIGHT

      By Roy E. Peterson (1965)

      A great war now is facing us

      Between the minds of men.

      On every side are battle lines

      Drawn by our so-called friends.

      When we face the enemy

      Will we be strong and true,

      Or will we fall before them all

      As they come rushing through.

      To arms, the bugle’s sounded clear.

      It’s time to fight again,"

      But now it’s on a different scale,

      It’s for the minds of men.

      Each night as I lie thinking

      An angel comes to me

      And says, "Go fight for what is right,

      Be strong for liberty."

      A golden crested eagle

      Stares at me without fear

      And says, God’s might is all that’s right,

      Your calling’s very clear.

      I scooped my helmet quickly up,

      And bade my love goodbye.

      I said, I’m going to fight for what is right.

      For freedom I may die."

      It takes a man to give his life.

      It takes a mighty man

      To say, "I have to fight for what is right.

      I’ll serve as best I can."

      And when this great

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