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Left Hand Pathos*

 
 
 
Our Father
The confusion started
One day in idyllic late 1970s southern England
At a Catholic infant school
The sinister Mrs Williams might have been to blame
Maybe the fact I can't recall her name
Is just one of the symptoms
Of the possible primary consequences of converting handedness
(That of memory disorders) 
"Inclined to be be slow" 
On a steep incline
As for the possible secondaries 
(I 'mastered' joined-up at secondary)
They include disorders in the personality profile,
Shyness and introversion
That teacher may be partially responsible for this attempt at a prose / poem
Defiance to belligerence and braggadocio
The pencil is mightier than the pen and sword
When taken from the left and put in the right hand
Dr. Johanna Sattler's research states that the conversion of handedness drives people 
To continually use at least 30% more energy to mobilize their intelligence
In formulating and expressing thoughts and 
In recollecting learned material
In writing and speaking
(I'm still trying to establish the veracity of these claims)
So that's possibly why 
I won't try to memorise this
And recite it at a poetry night
Still reaching with the right
Feelings of inferiority to
"Hail Mary! He's quite contrary"
The lord of his oppositional and provocational manor
Poor co-ordination of the shift
What's right?
It's wrong
What's right is not left
What's left is not quite right
My right to be left alone
As I always told my counsellor
Whatever the problem is
(Was
Or will be)
It is always someone (or something) else's fault
World without end
Amen
 
*This poem only paints a picture of the negative consequences of forcing someone to change their 'natural' handedness.
 

◄ Winter

1973 ►

Comments

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Starfish

Mon 7th Oct 2013 22:52

Very interesting. Both my Gran and my Dad were left-handed, both were Catholic and both were made to write with their right hand. It worked with my dad but my Gran wrote with her left till the day she died. I thought I was being spun a line - obviously not.

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