_________________________"Girl In A Tenement" - a work of some obscure, Ukrainian artist.
He followed the ancient rule of painting --
three or five objects create a good still-life,
nothing more. So when he entered her room
these things composed a scene;
the chair with its broken leg,
the candlestick with its scratched silver,
the bed with a curtain fashioned
from dark hair falling against its frame.
Pressed to the wall, her head served
as an ornamental focus, the poise
of a street girl balancing sainthood.
Muslin sheets surrounded her body;
and bare space defined
her nudity as light stretched
through the doorway making
candles a pointless detail like her name.
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