-the left hand of God, the right-handed paddle chair and Olive Goff remembered-

a sleight of hand:

the fierce, right hand of God was drilled into the vulnerable

sensitivities of the left-handed few at weekly catechisms.
priest never said god had two hands.

and the right-handed paddle chair is not only common to

Coney Island hotdog joints.

let's get a couple with the works to travel and eat them for lunch
in the great outdoors where the trees are and the clouds roll by.

there’s a little park across the street.

c'mon! make the environment a better place.

make it smell like a Coney Island wiener.  (the scent lingers...)

In the early 50s at the now infamous

Hugo A. Dubuque School,  (there he goes again)

the use of right-handed paddle chairs was common

in classrooms occupied by students of the working class.

college prep kids from "Up the Highlands" sat at snazzy desks

with popup lids, recessed inkwells with little hinged caps to conceal
the ink when not in use and secret compartments to hide their lunch money.

(my lunch was pressed inside a brown paper bag

sitting on the floor between my feet.)

"my tuna sandwich smells like feet"!

the link of Olive's:

I met Olive Goff when she entered the classroom one morning

and sat at the right-handed paddle chair across the aisle from mine.
It made sense.

Olive was left-handed, too.

Olive was sweetly reserved and had a smile

like that which brushed across the mouth of.. what’s-her-name;

you know, slight, come-hither, like, oh, yeah... Bette Davis.

she wore wire-rimmed eyeglasses, unpopular at the time and had

a certain attitude of locomotion when breezing through the corridors.
Olive was a tap dancer in the making, or a pole dancer in my dreams.

she lived on Locust street, a stone's throw from the city Dump,

and three blocks from the ledge at the granite quarry.

(and there he goes Again!)

the big finish:

Olive was the link in the chain between the three
once forbidden, now enduring territories of my pliable youth.



...and goodnight Olive Goff, wherever you are.