Picasso’s “Bust of Sylvette”

a taxi blares against
the traffic that fills up
Bleecker Street
and a leaf blowing
against Sylvette’s face
leaves no shadow
but the echo of guitars
from a nearby highrise

a couple of winos toss
empty bottles toward
her unseen feet
while a fire siren screams
wrongway down a one-way alley
and Sylvette is silent...
time does not move
upon the surface of her face