Editor’s note: This week the Sun features two poems about Seal Beach to kick off the year 2010 in a way to express appreciation for our backyard in this corner of West Orange County. Charles Cohen, the Sun’s College Park West correspondent introduces them.
Charles Cohen:
I’d like to offer a little information about the oldest resident in College Park West.
His name is Norman T. Vick and has lived in our small track of homes for the last 39 years. He was born in December 1913 on a row-crop farm in Eastern North Carolina. He is the oldest resident of College Park West in Seal Beach.
He was raised during the Depression, had his education in Carolina and California and proudly served the United States of America During World War II.
Norman loves to write and walks the streets of College Park West every day greeting and talking to everyone, young and old. You can hear him coming from the sound of his cane hitting the sidewalk as he walks.
Three books that he has written and very proud of, but never published are Carolina Camelot, growing up 1918-1930, Transition Road, the years between 1931-1946, and Advalorem, the 45 years of professional life and his devotation to his family.
I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to sit and listen to his wonderful stories and given the chance to put his poems in print.
“College Park West”
In a secluded part of Seal Beach
For thirty-nine years my home
Where I hope to live until I die
No wish do I have to roam.
This wondrous spot has been good to me
Now I wish to sing its praises
About the things that I have enjoyed
With the right kind of words and phrases.
The woman here are all beautiful
And their husbands are strong and brave
Their little children are all angels
And never do they misbehave.
Recent owners of these properties
Keep improving them with zest
And while beautifying their new homes
Discover a new friendliness.
A wholesome competition prevails
To make things look sharp and bright
Which keeps upgrading the neighborhood
While prices soar up out of sight.
We enjoy unusual safety
Great schools are near as well
For Sale signs never need to be seen
The homes are so easy to sell.
Norman T Vick
Our second poem is by 82-year-old David Brink, the father of longtime Seal Beach local Sarah Brink. He wrote this poem on a recent visit and as the tenant of Bonnie Clark of Seal Beach. He is set to leave the area at the end of January.
“Ode to Seal Beach”
You seek a haven by the sea.
The answer you will reach
Is not as far as Sicily;
Instead, it’s Seal Beach.
You long for seashells, surf and sand
And everything they teach.
Look not in some far distant land,
But here in Seal Beach.
You need not go to Pompano.
Stay here, I do beseech,
For happiness, you’ll find–I know–
Resides in Seal Beach.
David R. Brink
