Washington School

On this day

3 years ago

Joan Milan Hart

Shared with Public

Still thinking about memories today. I've gone through my poetry portfolio to find some of the many poems and essays I have written about memories. Here's another one.

This one reaches way back to my first grade at Washington School when we lived in a house down the road. We had a long two-rut lane from the road down to the house and I remember walking with my sisters and mom up that dusty road to the mailbox. I loved the daisies growing among the weeds in the ditch and remember trying to avoid the grasshoppers jumping up on us on hot summer days hoping the wouldn't spit tobacco juice on us, as we had always been told.

I went to first grade and half of second grade in the Washington Country School, a one room school where I was introduced to learning.

Learning was and is the greatest joy of my life. Learning to read. Learning how to do arithmetic for the first time. Spelling was always my forte.

I am as much a student now as I ever was. Reading everything I can get my hands on. Remembering as much as I possibly can.

Expressing my memories and thoughts and blessings in as creative a way as I possibly can.

I learned long ago the more I learned, the more I realized I didn't know and I was determined to learn all I could as long as my mind would hold out.

An interesting part of my school days was a rather long walk, or so it seemed, through the woods, a little 6 year old girl wearing a plaid dress, with a ribbon in her hair, carrying a lunchbox. When I reached the end of the woods I was stopped by a fence with a big ditch down to the gravel road bed which led to the school house. I have no idea how long that was either.

My grandfather built a stile with 3 steps up to the fence and over and down more steps to the road.

There is no way in this day and age we would send a little girl through the woods to walk alone down a country road but I don't recall ever being afraid and of course times were different then.

Here is that poem.

SNAPSHOTS IN THE MIND

Memory is such a funny thing

Those snapshots in the mind

Of smells and sounds of childhood scenes

Those days long left behind.

The dusty walk down the long, long lane

The flowers along the way

Where daisies and weeds intertwine in the ditch

And grasshoppers love to play.

The country school where I learned to read

And crayons were a good source of art

The spelling match, and arithmetic,

And poems we learned by heart.

Yes, the camera of the mind is a funny thing

Those snapshots of the past

Captured one day and locked away

Where our memory holds them fast.

Written by Joan Rowden Hart, 12.17.01

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AUTUMN By Joan Rowden Hart, Oct. 17, 2016 The hickory tree stands tall in the yard A harbinger of the season to come Dispensing nuts as the wind picks up A change in the weather so abrupt These are the sights and sounds of autumn The first tryma just rolled down the length of the roof But they’ve been littering the roads for days They crack under the wheels Causing car brakes to squeal The sights and the sounds of autumn. A chill in the breeze says it won’t be long now Old winter will be here too soon But there are still pleasant days For the sun’s warming rays And the sights and the sounds of autumn Leaves drifting on the wings of the wind as they play A kaleidoscope of nature’s own making Rusty mauve, glittery gold Red and orange bright and bold These are the sights and sounds of autumn. Smoke rising in the air from bonfires here and there Hotdogs impaled on sticks, embers glowing Crisp and crunch as you bite In the evenings waning light More sights and sou...

Straight From The Hart

Search This Blog