gift cards

when you were a school
boy
you made things
in shop
class to give
as gifts for the holidays.
pot holders,
that looked
like tea pots.
shaved flat wood,
jig sawed from paper
templates, then
sanded and glossed
with stains
and sealers, small
pegs slotted
in for hooks.
then there were
the key chains, twisted
plastic,
braided in red
white blue.
or the ashtrays
ball peen
hammered by your
small hands for hours
at the thick wood
benches, beating
the metal
into small
shallow bowls.
how you still have
fingers and eyes,
is beyond you.
thank god those
days are over.