Atelierwand, by Andrés Castro

Atelierwand (Studio Wall) by Adolph Menzel (Germany), 1872.

Atelierwand (1872)  
after Adolf Menzel

The centerpiece is
a young woman’s torso
bathed in light.

On a dark old wall
plaster flesh hangs
from hooks in half-shadows--

a menagerie
of dismembered
brittle white cast,

rows of death masks
and ashy pale heads,
eyes peacefully closed.

The centerpiece is
a young woman’s torso
washed in cold light--

firm right breast,
nipple sharp to
an old man’s face--

ash left breast
by a muscled chest
hung in shadows.

Scissors hang on pointy
spikes with calipers
and tangled wire.

A gray German
shepherd head
looks to the floor.

A left hand
palm turned out
delicately catches light.

Andrés Castro 

This poem first appeared in Glasschord.
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Andrés Castro is a PEN member/volunteer and he is also listed in the Directory of Poets and Writers. He recently launched a blog for new and not so new practicing poets: 
https://thepracticingpoet.edublogs.org