Keeper of Memory
from Keeper of Memory, page 16
ISBN: 1-931002-08-8
Petaluma, 2001
for Beth
She has probably forgotten
the white fur muff and matching hat
I bought for her fourth birthday; a longing
to inject this sister’s life with beauty.
—————
I am the keeper of memory,
a repository of history;
these albums peopled by ancestors
unmet, solemn of face and clothing.
The yards lacked grass,
the houses lacked paint,
the women lacked ease,
the men lacked youth.
Beauty took a long time
to register on the camera’s lens.
—————
She holds the white fur muff
to her cheek, the hat tops
her curls. She smiles, oblivious
of peeling paint, struggling grass.
—————
I have been lax—these photographs
have waited a year. I remove
them from the envelope
and add them to the album.
She stands with the wedding party, elegant
in a long column of burgundy velvet.
Her daughter’s gown and veil an exclamation
of white against black tuxedos.
They smile,
bathed in candlelight and roses.