Endless Relations

Borderline freak-show ugly,their faces claim mefrom pages of a battered albummy father handed meclaiming not to knowwho they were.His mother's people,the dark Dutch of the upstate,they dress like china dollsand waistcoated menin borrowed clothesfrom the photographer's studio,whose embossed name is splashedacross their nameless bodies.In New Paltz or Saugerties,their coarse faces rise above Victorian frills,hover over tender lace.Blunt hands grip canes and walking sticks,pigskin gloves and Spanish fans.On facing pages beautiful childrenswing in fairyland settings,blond and fine: preludes or postscripts?It isn't clear whether theirsis a parable of the promised landread backwardor the immigrants' cursethat warps them into the pagesthat come later in the valleys of New York.