“Cutting Straight”- A Commemorative Poem
Part of the Hidden Bonds Series: a commemorative poem for the carpenter who fell from a scaffold, saw double for fifty years, and kept cutting straight.
Cutting Straight
for Miles Murtha O'Brien (1904–1984)
He lost his mother at two,
learned early that love leaves
but its shape remains—
a space you build around.
He fell from a scaffold
and saw two of everything after:
two nails, two boards,
two of his wife's beautiful face.
But a carpenter learns
to cut straight anyway—
to trust the hand
when the eye betrays.
He worked alone
for fifty years.
Built kitchens. Built offices.
Built a family of six,
then nineteen,
then more.
The grandchildren thought
he was gruff.
They didn't know
about the candy in his pocket,
the tenderness he couldn't say.
At Woodruff Jewelers
they saw overalls.
He saw what he could afford.
He plunked down cash
and told the story for years.
Fifty-six years married.
One wife. One home.
One saw that cut the birthday cake
because he was, in the end,
exactly himself:
practical, irreverent, true.
He saw double.
He cut straight.
He built what lasted.
Hidden Bonds: The O'Brien Family of Jamaica, Queens
Storyline Genealogy
From Research to Story
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SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERThis poem was created as part of our Legacy Keepsakes service — commemorative pieces that transform genealogical research into family heirlooms.
