“The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men”

"The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men"

The poem was first written by Robert Burns, the Scottish Shakespeare.

“The best laid plans of mice and men” comes from a poem entitled “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns. The expression was then popularized by the 1937 novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. In the poem “To a Mouse”, a farmer expresses regret after accidentally destroying a mouse’s nest while plowing.

(Interpreted by: Harvey Kalmenson)

When should I think about life? Shared alone?

Caring to think along with me, or by one’s self

So be it

We all, often many of our turmoils daily recalled 

Not driven by self-request

Too many questions remain

Decisions not relayed

Gems left delayed 

And of yesterday’s happiness

Free from today’s grief 

Perhaps tomorrow

Will love nor hate remain unrequited? 

Must there always remain decisions to be made?

"Of Mice and Men, novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1937. The tragic story, given poignancy by its objective narrative, is about the complex bond between two migrant labourers. The book was adapted by Steinbeck into a three-act play (produced 1937). It was adapted for television three times, including a Turkish-language version, and for motion pictures twice (1939 and 1992).

The plot centres on George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to the large and mentally challenged Lennie, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. When Lennie accidentally kills the ranch owner’s flirtatious daughter-in-law, George shoots his friend rather than allowing him to be captured by a vengeful lynch mob." (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Of-Mice-and-Men-by-Steinbeck)

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.

Fond Memories

Ethel Waters was born in 1896.

        My father, Charles Kalmenson, was born in 1902.

                Harvey Kalmenson, that would be me, came along in 1933.

I have many fond memories of the wondrous roads I’ve been lucky enough to trespass on during my life to date. I use the depiction as that of a man who has experienced trespassing, because like many of my mentors, there comes a time whether we like it or not, we feel lost.

When Ethel Waters entered my very young life, there was little thought of her having such a wondrous impact on me.

Four people from my past

And one more

Me, past and present

Four which influenced one

Amazingly

With benefits, forever continuing

Please keep

Your eye on the sparrow

He’s doing the same!

Soon to become 90

My God-endowed heart remains strong

In retrospect, it was one of those times again for me. There I was with my dad. I was about ten years old. We were attending a movie together called, “Cabin in the Sky”. My dad loved musicals. He had a very nice singing voice, but he never flaunted it. I can remember him being able to sing much of what he had heard the singers do in the movie that we just experienced together. It was like osmosis.

This film was especially meaningful for me. I was absolutely spellbound by the all Black cast. My dad was beaming when he saw the look on my face. While Ethel Waters wasn’t the greatest singer in the world, she got into me then as much as any performer, past or present, has done. My only regret to date is that I never got to see or meet Ethel Waters in person.

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) Official Trailer

This movie came into my life long before I took it upon myself to use the contents of Ernest Hemingway’s novel, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, as a factor in the make-up of ingredients stimulating who I was to become after reading “ His Eye is on the Sparrow”, the autobiography of Ethel Waters.

Today, I have become enabled even more so than I was at the time of these two individuals who unknowingly became the ingredients for my future life’s development.

And then, in the novel “A Tale Of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens opens with: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

A Tale of Two Cities (1935) Official Trailer

For many of you out there, you might have concluded that my comparison of Ethel Waters, Ernest Hemingway, and Charles Dickens borders on insanity. Today, I offer my less than discrete observations of these three as literally cosmic. Based on the life experiences they lived, and the tales they told about the past and the days they lived with, the truth was told. I doubt if they did so as teachers. They were three human beings who did profess true emotions of what they saw in people during their time of life.

Harvey Kalmenson