Straight From The Hart

I love to write poetry and I love to read poetry out loud  just for the rhythm and flow of the words, and one famous poem which always comes to mind this time of the year is Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” which is so beautiful in its simplicity. Although Kilmer  writes of the summer tree with a “nest of robins in her hair”,and the winter tree “upon whose bosom snow hath lain”, I would venture to say that he never passed through the Missouri Ozarks in the fall to see the blazing red of the autumn foliage, and the neon yellows with the sun shining through, or the orange leaves falling like miniature pumpkins from Charlie Brown’s “Great Pumpkin Tree”, or the muted mauves and dusty roses spread across the  “hills and hollers” as you travel the highways and byways of the Ozarks. I have always enjoyed the beautiful colors of fall and have my favorite routes I take to view the trees here in town.  The City Cemetery of course is spectacular.  The mature trees along Harwood Avemue are magnificent.

Straight From the Hart By Joan Rowden Hart One of the casualties of our addiction to technology and its related gadgets is the printed dictionary.  I used to keep one at my desk in the law office and in my home office, too, and I used them almost daily.  I always wanted to be sure I was using the appropriate word for whatever I was trying to say. Now an entry from the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary magically appears each day in my email both on my computer and my cell phone and I play a game with myself to be sure I know the exact meaning and pronunciation of the “Word of the Day”. And when I read my Kindle, all I have to do is click on any word in the text about which I have questions, and the pronunciation, spelling, and all the varied meanings appear instantly on my Kindle screen. When I’m writing a manuscript and need to check a word I just type it in the search box on my computer screen and all the information I need appears immediately. But everything still g

Straight From The Hart By Joan Rowden Hart We celebrated Columbus Day this week.  Or did we?  I guess the more appropriate term would be that most of us  “observed” it by having a typical Monday, the only difference being that our mail wasn’t delivered and the banks were closed. But Columbus Day should be one of the most important days in our national life.  It is the story of a man consumed with a passion for his God and a heart for missions to bring the light of salvation to those who had never heard it. Wait – that’s not what you remember from school?  Well, hold on, there’s more. I’m quoting now from an obscure journal written by Christopher Columbus. “It was the Lord who put it into my mind the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies.  There is no question but that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit,  because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures.” “For the execution of the journey to the Indies, I did not make use