Anna, Arranged, by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, by James McNeill Whistler (USA) 1871

Anna, Arranged

Sitting for her portrait, Anna prepares for death: 
idle hands, black dress, steel gaze, 

spine straight; the pose a stiffness she can’t shake.

She wishes Whistler would work faster— 
the room is drafty; her bones ache.

He was raised to be unsentimental.

He draws the drapes, elaborates a bit of lace;
mixes greys as if his grief might be constrained;

reminds himself: a model is a nesting doll
of shapes; art isn’t life— it just suggests. 

This face is not his mother’s face, and yet…
painting her brow, her nose, her neck, 

Whistler’s aesthetic distance vacillates. 

Violeta Garcia-Mendoza

Violeta Garcia-Mendoza is writer, photographer, and teacher. She lives with her family in Western Pennsylvania. More of her work can be found at https://www.violetagarciamendoza.com