direction left-right

[Graham Percival]

How do you tell Lilypond to position something to the left or right of 
an object?  I'd like to have a forte chord with the forte to the left 
of the -- if it's underneath the chord, that staff line takes a lot of 
space.

Simple example:
\score{\notes {
\property Voice.DynamicLineSpanner \override #'direction = #-1
        <c4 e g c'-\f >
\property Voice.DynamicLineSpanner \revert #'direction
}}

If I make the "direction = #-1" into #1 it goes on top, but it doesn't 
like -2, 0.5, and 0 just makes the forte appear in the middle of the 
chord.

Thanks in advance,
- Graham Percival