Saturday, July 30, 2005
Keys Are Me
I used to lose ‘m a lot.
(“We can’t leave ‘till Mom finds her keys.")
Finally got a big brass key ring with a whistle.
Easy to hang somewhere,
Easy to dig out of a purse.
And when they jangle
You know where I am.
And if you look at my keys,
You know who I am.
The whistle is a necessity.
Recess duty.
Hurry those kids to line and back to class.
Getting people’s attention at church.
“Yo! Let the pastor say grace so we can all eat.”
Supervising a game.
Even used it to call the kids home for dinner
The time I had laryngitis.
The whistle is also useful for comin’ home in the dark.
I just hold up the whistle
And the house keys hang on either side of it.
Then I tell them apart by feel.
Top lock first.
Then the bottom.
Doesn’t matter
If anyone remembers
To leave the light on.
I can do that with the classroom keys too.
I just hold up the plastic,
Thumb shaped electronic key
That lets me in the school building,
Where I teach science.
Next to it dangle my gold science lab key,
And my silver Sunday school room key.
Then there’s my
“Jesus is the key.”
It’s a real key
That you could cut
To fit a lock,
But I never have.
Clustered around it are
Two keys to my parents beach house,
And two keys to the crisis pregnancy center
Where I volunteer.
The car keys aren’t difficult.
Mine is the one with the black plastic Honda logo.
My husband’s Chevy key is large and square.
After that it gets confusing.
There’s the key to the church
But it only works in the side door
In the old part of the building.
And a key to another Sunday school room.
And this little key?
I’m not sure what it is.
Could fit a bicycle lock,
Or the rabbit cage,
Or maybe one of my suitcases.
Have to keep it on here
Just in case.
Oh, I almost forgot
The “commercial” keys,
The ones the cashiers have to swipe
To give you the sale prices at Giant and CVS.
I object to being conned
Into advertising for them on my key ring,
So I placed them face to face
So only the bar codes show.
Besides, it's simpler than digging out cards from my wallet.
So now you know a lot about my keys
And also little about me.
(“We can’t leave ‘till Mom finds her keys.")
Finally got a big brass key ring with a whistle.
Easy to hang somewhere,
Easy to dig out of a purse.
And when they jangle
You know where I am.
And if you look at my keys,
You know who I am.
The whistle is a necessity.
Recess duty.
Hurry those kids to line and back to class.
Getting people’s attention at church.
“Yo! Let the pastor say grace so we can all eat.”
Supervising a game.
Even used it to call the kids home for dinner
The time I had laryngitis.
The whistle is also useful for comin’ home in the dark.
I just hold up the whistle
And the house keys hang on either side of it.
Then I tell them apart by feel.
Top lock first.
Then the bottom.
Doesn’t matter
If anyone remembers
To leave the light on.
I can do that with the classroom keys too.
I just hold up the plastic,
Thumb shaped electronic key
That lets me in the school building,
Where I teach science.
Next to it dangle my gold science lab key,
And my silver Sunday school room key.
Then there’s my
“Jesus is the key.”
It’s a real key
That you could cut
To fit a lock,
But I never have.
Clustered around it are
Two keys to my parents beach house,
And two keys to the crisis pregnancy center
Where I volunteer.
The car keys aren’t difficult.
Mine is the one with the black plastic Honda logo.
My husband’s Chevy key is large and square.
After that it gets confusing.
There’s the key to the church
But it only works in the side door
In the old part of the building.
And a key to another Sunday school room.
And this little key?
I’m not sure what it is.
Could fit a bicycle lock,
Or the rabbit cage,
Or maybe one of my suitcases.
Have to keep it on here
Just in case.
Oh, I almost forgot
The “commercial” keys,
The ones the cashiers have to swipe
To give you the sale prices at Giant and CVS.
I object to being conned
Into advertising for them on my key ring,
So I placed them face to face
So only the bar codes show.
Besides, it's simpler than digging out cards from my wallet.
So now you know a lot about my keys
And also little about me.
