By LYDE SISON VILLANUEVA

An easy trick not to forget
which key is for the kitchen,

for mother’s old bookshelf,
or for the lonely attic—

is to remember the cuts
of the key’s body.

The only duplicate looks
like ridges of Cuernos de Negros.

Another resembles the edge
of the sea with dying eddies.

And the gold one is a weak
heartbeat’s running green line

on the ECG monitor.

Somewhere,
in an ancestral house,

a locksmith is replacing
a jammed lock

of a front door
left unrepaired for years.

A new spare key
hangs on the doornail,

waiting to be useful.

Lyde Sison Villanueva was born in Dumaguete City, and graduated with a degree in Mass Communication from Silliman University in 2008. He was a fellow for poetry for the 2013 Silliman University National Writers Workshop. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at De La Salle University in Manila. His works have appeared in various publications like The Sunday Times Magazine, Inquirer.net, and The Quarterly Literary Review Singapore. His first poetry chapbook entitled Made Easy was published in 2019.