(1) October Sketch Book, Impressions of The Kent Coast. (New Version) (2) Duff Translations.(Revised Version).

                  1. 

October Sketch Book, Impressions of The Kent Coast.


The purple flowers of Autumn
Stand tall
On the salt scarred cliff
Like ragged vagabonds.

Bees hovering in the muggy air,
Sluggish,
Heavy,
Mourn the loss of summer.
Time weighs them down
But rest is not an option,
There is still too much to do.

The well appointed hive,
Clogged and sticky,
Emits a sullen music.
The old Queen
Gross,
Unwieldy,
Locked into the centre
Under the weight of her tribe.
She barely moves,
This crucible of the hive
Locked deep in tumultuous darkness,
Enslaved to a cruel fecundity.

Outside her narrow home
The purple flowers of Autumn
Sway in a soft sea breeze.
Small children flick the petals with fidgety fingers,
But do not attempt to pick them.

These children are galvanised by other priorities,
Games and parties; pleasure their reason for living.

They are busy rushing down onto the beach;
Flocking like querulous geese scudding the estuary;

Or a petulant swarm escaping over the shore
Chasing an inchoate dream.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
4th. - 5th. - 6th. - 7th. - 9th. October 2013.
Loosely linked impressions of Herne Bay.
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                     2.

         Duff Translations.


You recreate my poem
As you read it,
Memorize it,
Making it your own.

My carefully structured cadences
Hacked out of recognition,
Down graded,
Swiped,
Turned inside out,
No longer mine.

My clear straight forward imagery
Graffitied by your word games;
Your Catch All
List of sayings,
Tabloid speak.

A collage of random news bites
Inconsequently flung together
That mutate like Chinese Whispers
In your mind,

Or
Strange heretical flowers
Abandoned to grow wild
In a once well ordered
Garden,
The dreamscape I designed,

But
As printed on the page
My carefully structured poem
Remains entirely mine,
Inviolate.
It is simply hashed up in your head
When you wilfully misread it;
Customize it for your schemes:

And despite your worst endeavours
My words retain integrity,
My mind remains unchanged.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
16th. - 19th. August, 26th. September, 4th. October 2013.