Often It’s Unexpected

…Not as if I wasn’t selfishly in search of an upper. I honestly didn’t think at the time I was in search of anything at all. I can remember one particular day, many years ago, when it appeared to me that my mom was down in the mouth about something. When I questioned her about what was troubling her, she responded with a very simple, “Oh nothing, I’m just feeling blue today.” Back in the 1940s, feeling blue was a very common phrase many folks would use in the English speaking parts of the world.

The rather smug definition of what my mom said about her feelings was given to me by my older sister who said it was known as a colloquialism. At the time, I was about ten years old. My sister was sixteen and about to enter college. During that stage of the game, sis was a real pain in the ass. It annoyed her that, because of her, I had developed a marvelous “gift of humorous gab”. Rather colloquial, don’t you think?

Writer’s note from a very current da harv:Please think of colloquialisms as a soft trainer for developing a method for a suitable menu for the development of conversational improvisation for the actor! And for those of you who don’t, want, or can’t “get a handle” on what I just offered you, I heartily recommend looking up the definition of the word: colloquialism.

Good night
Bad night
To sleep
Or not to sleep
Aye, that was my question
Upon awakening
This morning
5:30 AM
I staggered from bed
With legs gingerly placed
Uncertain of my steps
Not caused by any disabling fall
Merely two days climbing
This old and unpleasant ladder

But then I entered my library
My room of depictions
Three hundred close friends
All reminding me of the past
These were my books
All neatly stacked
Row upon row
In shelves installed in a single yesterday
All my friends
All were and remain
My pleasant vow
Carrying life’s sustenance from when and now…

By Harvey Kalmenson

Another note, this time from da harv…
For many more years than I choose to remember, I’ve considered my books as I would consider many new friends joining me in my library. As I placed them in and on the brand new shelves, I caught sight of my image in a library window reflection. It was the countenance of a sincerely pleased man in celebration of continuance.