“I may be left-handed, but I am always right.” ~ Anonymous

What do Paul McCartney, Julia Roberts and Prince William have in common?

Well, Paul is music royalty,

Julia is Hollywood royalty,

and Prince William is genuine-for-real British royalty (*swoons*):

Aside from that, they’re all lefties. 🙂

Perhaps southpaws are the true blue bloods of the world, the chosen few who comprise about 10% of the population. They are thought to be creative, imaginative, artistic, holistic and musical — traits associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, which is also responsible for left-hand control.

What’s it like being a lefty in a right-handed world? In the following poem, Virginia based poet Gregory Orr describes an early childhood challenge.

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ODE TO LEFT-HANDEDNESS
by Gregory Orr

I sat at my kindergarten desk,
Surrounded by others,
Either cheerful
Or bored, who were
Cutting
The requisite circles
With ease,
Or slicing down
Straight, penciled lines
As the teacher directed.

I did my dutiful best,
But the scissors
Hurt my fingers
In a minor,
Distracting way,
And I was too young
To realize the handle
Was biased
For a right-hand child,
So all I could do
Was cut in clumsy zigzags
And feel like a fool.

Staring hard at the blades,
I tried to will them
To obey,
Who couldn’t conceive
I was being freed
That day
By those little silver wings
Of a bird
Intent on the erratic,
Authentic pattern
Of its own flight
Through a sky of colored paper.

~ from The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write (W.W. Norton & Co., 2019).

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