All I Got
Andrea L. Alterman
“…she always put a ring of old house keys and several envelopes with bills
on the table to give the impression that she had a home like everyone else.”
It ain’t easy living in my car
but it’s the only place I know
where I don’t owe no rent.
I carry my house keys everywhere,
I can’t afford to lose ‘em you see
‘cause those keys got a hold on me,
and I ration out my time, like the rolls
from the baskets the waitresses here
give us, I try to make a shower last
more than just one day,
although you know, a person like me’s
gotta eat, gotta sleep, and sometimes I
just has to run, far like I once did
when I was small and I knew my momma
would be waiting at the end of our
driveway, coming out the car like
she was queen of the neighborhood.
And you know, she was, and I am too,
queen that is, of my car, it’s the only
thing I have that don’t need more’n
I can spare, although I do have to
shove that damned nozzle in to fill
‘er up and then get myself some heat,
or cooling, although I’m hoping
like I used to when I was waitin for
Christmas, not to spend too much
longer in this place, you see them cops,
they’re lookin’ at me trying to figure out
how they can charge me rent for the space
I use more often than I should,
by their lights anyways, though
I’ll tell you this much right now,
while we’re settin’ here over our Cokes,
I’d sooner get a ticket for overtime
and pay my fine from out my wallet
like I used to, but now I know
they’re looking to get me for loiterin'
and hell, I ain’t the lingering sort,
but I got no place to go that’s safe,
that has a look like home, with
flowers and mailboxes, bills to pay,
a phone to answer, I just got my
keys hanging from their ring,
and honey, you know that’s
the only ring I got.
Andrea L. Alterman
“…she always put a ring of old house keys and several envelopes with bills
on the table to give the impression that she had a home like everyone else.”
It ain’t easy living in my car
but it’s the only place I know
where I don’t owe no rent.
I carry my house keys everywhere,
I can’t afford to lose ‘em you see
‘cause those keys got a hold on me,
and I ration out my time, like the rolls
from the baskets the waitresses here
give us, I try to make a shower last
more than just one day,
although you know, a person like me’s
gotta eat, gotta sleep, and sometimes I
just has to run, far like I once did
when I was small and I knew my momma
would be waiting at the end of our
driveway, coming out the car like
she was queen of the neighborhood.
And you know, she was, and I am too,
queen that is, of my car, it’s the only
thing I have that don’t need more’n
I can spare, although I do have to
shove that damned nozzle in to fill
‘er up and then get myself some heat,
or cooling, although I’m hoping
like I used to when I was waitin for
Christmas, not to spend too much
longer in this place, you see them cops,
they’re lookin’ at me trying to figure out
how they can charge me rent for the space
I use more often than I should,
by their lights anyways, though
I’ll tell you this much right now,
while we’re settin’ here over our Cokes,
I’d sooner get a ticket for overtime
and pay my fine from out my wallet
like I used to, but now I know
they’re looking to get me for loiterin'
and hell, I ain’t the lingering sort,
but I got no place to go that’s safe,
that has a look like home, with
flowers and mailboxes, bills to pay,
a phone to answer, I just got my
keys hanging from their ring,
and honey, you know that’s
the only ring I got.
