Selected Poetry and Light Verse of
Scott Keyes (1910-1992)
After he retired, our father, Scott Keyes, turned to writing poetry: serious, as well as light verse. Dad had always wanted to do this, but first had to complete his career as an urban and regional planner. From 1977 till 1991 he sent an annual booklet of poems to his many friends.
In honor of his memory, we are devoting a section in our respective websites to the best of Scott Keyes’s verse. We will be gradually uploading his poetry, starting here with 28 of our favorites from his first collection, The Keyes Garden of Verses, and 12 from A Second Helping. (There are also a links at the bottom to the complete set of each one, though some might be a bit dated.)
Gene and Ralph Keyes https://www.genekeyes.com https://ralphkeyes.com
(with encouragement from our other two siblings, Stephen and Nicolette)
Light verse:
1977 The Keyes Garden of Verses
1978 A Second Helping
1979 Chapbook ’79
1981 Time for Scott Again
1982 Your Nickels and Dimes Please, Madam and other poems
1983 Brother, Can You Spare a Chime? and other poems
1986 Tomato, Tomato! and other poems
1987 Polyester Rag and other poems
Serious poetry
1980 Where Does the Fault Lie? and other poems
1984 Look to the Horizon [parts 1 and 2]
1985 Look to the Horizon [parts 1 – 4]
1988 …dust…dust and feet [preliminary version]
1990 Two Poems
1991 …dust…dust and feet (Champaign, IL, and Yellow Springs, OH: David Scott, Publishers, 1991) 50 p.
1994 Dê uma olhada no Horizonte (Portuguese version, with English, of Look to the Horizon [parts 1 – 4])
translated by Luiz Paulo Gujanabara (Rio de Janeiro: Grifo, 1994) 26 p.
Selected from The Keyes Garden of Verses (1977)
| Big Busyness
Whenever I think that
I might like to snooze I’m stopped in my tracks by That list of to-do’s |
Two Loves
I love to read till
Late at night. I love to watch the Dawning. But when I try them Both I find I spend the whole day Yawning. |
The Gardener
I never like to
Start from seeds Because I’m Tenderhearted. I find that I can Never thin Them out when they Have started. |
||
| Pack Rat
I
I never like to |
Pack Rat
II
What I’ll toss when |
Coming of Age
A savage may
Achieve manhood By putting a ring Through his nose. But the intellectual Does it By grinding out Scholarly prose. |
||
| Give Me A Hint
I
I always know what |
Give Me A Hint
II
Whenever you ask what |
Room Mate
My daughter has
Moved in with Someone to Cherish But since he’s No in-law I feel rather Bearish. |
||
| Hard To Please
Two things really
Have me beat. One is cold, The other, heat. |
Kitchen Drudge
A man who retires
Soon understands What his wife always meant by Dishpan hands. |
Double Whammy
I love my neighbor’s
Well groomed lawn But not his Power mower. It’s nice he has A stereo But I wish he’d play it Lower. |
||
| Golden Years
It’s so wonderful when
You’re in my arms And the tip of your cigarette’s Glowing And gently you put your Lips on mine And between us the smoke is Flowing.Soon we’ll be on the Other side, and Just think — there we’ll Be able To light up again in the Same old way And forget what it says on The label. |
Fellow Traveller
I shudder whenever
I open the door And see you scuttle Across the floor.Yet really I think that I should ask why Since you’ve been around Much longer than I. You’ve seen species come That you will reflect |
On a Certain bomber
I never saw
A purple cow I never hope to See one. But I’ll tell you This much anyhow — Rather that than B – 1. |
||
| Now They Tell Me
New, bigger, better —
Have I been had ? Was last year’s product All that bad ? |
Big Sale
It’s a curious thing
I can’t quite comprehend When they tell me I’ll save more The more that I spend. |
Born Loser
In guessing which
Check-out line Will move Quicker Experience Tells me I’m Not a good Picker. |
||
| Strange Interlude
Peculiar things happen
to water consumption Between “Now this message …” And program resumption. |
Laxative Commercial
I never would have
Suspected it — So many people So full of shit. |
On-The-Job-Training
When I see those
Help Wanted ads that say “Cook — No Experience Needed” I remember the Restaurant meals I’ve tried To eat and haven’t succeeded. |
||
| Gay
I used to like the
Simple words, but Now-a-days, my gracious I’ve had to shift to Sprightly, animated or Vivacious. |
Robbery
I wish they hadn’t
Stolen away That word which means You’re happy — gay. |
More Robbery
And another word they’ve
Stolen away — Just look what “Explicit…” Means to-day. |
||
| Disdain
I don’t have
Much time For poems that Don’t rhyme. |
Warning
Whenever they tell you
The verse is free Prepare yourself for some Prose-etry. |
Triple Threat
Parkinson’s Law and the
Peter Principle Appear to make Murphy’s Law Almost invincible. |
||
Fifty / Fifty
|
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Go to unabridged version, The Keyes Garden of Verses
Selected from A Second Helping (1978)
| 2
| M | a | c | h | i | n | e
| R | e | a | d | a | b | l | e| | I | | w | o | n | d | e | r | | i | f | | m | y |
| P | o | e | m | s | | w | o | u | l | d | | b | e | | C | u | t | e | r | | I f | | t | h | e | y | | w | e | r | e | | R | e | a | d | a | b | l | e | | b | y | | a | | C | o | m | p | u | t | e | r | . | |
5
Clutter
I know my desk is I ought to clean it |
6
Close-Knit
No matter how fair |
| 10
Gresham’s Law
We live in a And it really is |
19
Please Fence Me In
Somehow I just can’t |
20
Responsibility
If saving the world |
| 24
Rabbit Food
Knowing that rabbits But exercising |
26
The Great Indoors
My neighbors? Yes, |
32
Carcinogens
I think that I would |
| 40
Watch Your Step
I know that walking is |
47
Absolute
Certainty Cats that |
48
Income Tax
I’ll have to take |