Japan.(Revised).

I did not know Mount Fuji was so large.
The artist has certainly come up with a powerful image,
Part real - part picture postcard.
Sailing boats - four or five deft pen strokes -
Float in a pale blue bay.
A purple scarf of cloud surrounds the mountain top.
Sometimes I press my ears close to the paper,
But as yet I`ve never heard the temple bells.

This dream of Edo was painted years before
American gunships appeared one misty morning
To blackmail the Shogunate into modern times.
This is the dream not shown in the faded images
Arranged, with awkward skill, not careful art,
By a young marine back in the eighteen eighties,
During a courtesy visit by the British Navy.
He prefered the box and lens to crafted woodcuts,
The truth was best preserved in black and white.

The glass plates have long ago been broken.
The photos in my great grandfathers album
Show an old world splintering at the edges,
Falling apart under the weight of progress.
No voices are extant, only these silent pictures
Of scenes so still they could have been invented
But remain authentic to the clash of cultures. -

The sun has set over distant Fuji.
A strip of Prussian Blue depicts the sky.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
October 4th. - 6th. 2017. - October 23rd. - 24th. - December 3rd. 2018.
October 27th. - 28th. 2019.