Time to Write by Lofty John Sylvester

Author:Lofty, John Sylvester [Lofty, John Sylvester]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781438455211
Publisher: SUNY Press
Published: 2015-07-15T05:00:00+00:00

WORKING HANDS

Hands tell a story their own

They could be soft or they could be callused

Both are strong

They truly belong.

They live a life time of abuse without complaint

The harder they work the more we take.

All have two

We train no matter what we do

Our working hands tell the tale of who are you.

Robert explains that he is a poor speller but has developed his vocabulary by reading, for example, Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Driving home he admits that in junior high he did not do anything except goof off. “You were my teacher, and I want you to see now what I can do.” The local newspaper has published several of his poems.

For the past several years, Robert has represented fishermen’s interests to local and state organizations. He has just returned from meeting with scientists who had invited fishermen to attend a review to ensure that “the scientific world was intertwined with the lobstering world so that both can combine together to make this a better process.”

He views the new scientist-fishermen alliance as an uneasy one. At meetings, he has seen scientists laughing behind their hands at fishermen, saying, “They would cut their own throats before they would ever help out their own industry.” Upset by this characterization, he explains:

The fishermen I deal with are environmentally sound. They would do anything to make sure that the lobster themselves are to the point of overabundance. Fishermen made tons of laws themselves to keep the industry robust…. We don’t know what the scientific world wants. Fishermen want to be left alone, to continue fishing so they can leave it to their kids—leave it as their fathers and grandfather[s] left it for them. The chain is always continually going.

On a positive note, he believes that the policy makers will listen to both sides and then make up their own minds: “I have seen a lot of bills go the other way because the policy makers listened.”

Robert was harshly introduced to state politics when a local clam dealer told him that a proposed new bill would mean that diggers could sell only to one certified dealer in the area rather than to the dealer who paid the highest price. (The reason was to protect consumers by ensuring that polluted clams were not being bought and sold.) The buyer joked that now the clammers would be his slaves, and there was nothing they could do.

Appalled by the pending legislation, Robert and Alton asked a friend to help. “Calvin was one of the smarter ones who could write up a petition to oppose the bill.” After collecting hundreds of signatures, they headed to the state capital. Arriving early at the hearing, a surprised secretary asked the diggers who they were. Sympathetic to their situation, she offered to help explain the hearing process and what they could expect.

We got into the room, and there were buyers everywhere. Not a clam digger in sight. I was ready to leave. We sat at the back and listened to senators begin the public hearing.

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