(1) Chinese New Year. (Completed Poem). (2) The Hoarder.

               Chinese New Year.


Plum blossom fragrant with hope.
A Swift darts upward into the silk grey sky,

A flurry of movements frozen in time
No quicker than the skipping of one heart beat.

The skill of the artist has tricked my eyes
To perceive in stillness the essence of speed,

And beyond this moment nothing more is visible,
I assume that tomorrow is not just a dream.


How strange that an artist can create such stillness
With the dancing movements of pencil or brush,

A stillness so vibrant with living vitality
That the painting has become the event it depicts.

The family photos packed into my album
Are smoked glass shadows compared to this.


Trevor  John Karsavin Potter.
January 1st. - 4th. - 9th. 2020.
Derived From the illustration for January on my Chinese Wall Calendar.


                  The Hoarder.


I bought this incense forty years ago;
When I light the sticks they are gone in
                                      five minutes
Leaving a pile of ash.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
January 1st. 2019.