It ain’t the fancy degree
or the showboat of professors
what some call scholars
to digitize and professionalize
what Peter already knows how to do:
keep the pictures taped on the walls,
and gather folks for stories.
The tintypes he gave to the library,
that he gave away for free,
he forgives himself for giving
even though other people
are so upset but he forgives himself.

He started by keeping his mother’s promises
to remember certain things.

A keeper museum like his
cherishes and collects our heritage.
Everyone wants to come to his house
because it is alive. There’s nothing dead in there.
The fading nature of the pictures
which I think allows visitors to get closer
in the keepers history that do not look like the people
in the pages of the books,
while three miles off, the Wallace house is swept clean.