Trevor J Potter's Art: Two Nineteenth Century Views of Japan.(Revised).

Trevor J Potter's Art: Two Nineteenth Century Views of Japan.(Revised).: I did not know Mount Fuji was so large. The boats - four or five deft pen strokes - Float in a pale blue bay. A purple scarf of cloud su...

Trevor J Potter's Art: Advent Eve.

Trevor J Potter's Art: Advent Eve.: Remembered fears become real once more. Bare trees stoop, Bleached skeletons flayed by Arctic wind, Starving paupers hunched in snow, S...

Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) A Dream of Deep Midwinter. (Revised) (2) Note...

Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) A Dream of Deep Midwinter. (Revised) (2) Note...: Butter coloured moon, Midnight December, A single light in the coldest of skies Shining above the Christmas rooftops, The bare boned tr...

Two Poems (1) A Country Wedding. (2) The Guest. (1st. Version).

              1.

When you were born
                          An aviary
Of exotic
                Tropical singing
                          Birds
Flew into your heart
                & set it beating
To the radiant songs of hot summer nights
Sung beneath a garden of stars


A garden of multi faceted blossoms
Reflected in your violet eyes
As we danced
               In the glow
               Of midsummer fires
To the music that only we could hear


Our bare feet kicking through smouldering embers
That for once seemed as cool as autumnal showers


But tonight
                    As I sit alone in the kitchen
Drinking green tea
                    Sharp and bitter
To keep myself awake to write -
I listen to the strange December stillness
Clinging like frost to the window panes
That reveal a landscape denuded of birds -
And I wonder if my memories are simply
                    a story
Imagined to keep the cold at bay
As I sit alone and look back through the
                                                         years
Waiting for someone who may never call


Trevor John Karsavin Potter
November 28th. 2018.

              2.


Curled up in my arms
like a cat
You refused to be moved
                  from my bed
Until you were ready for
breakfast -
A slow walk in the park.

The shoes you left under the sofa
Will you collect them sometime next Fall?


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
November 30th. 2018.

A Lesson in Seeing.

Sumi-e
That is what my poems are,
A flick of strong colour
On off white paper
Hinting at delicate cherry blossom
Or a mountain sketched in black and white
But seeming more real
Than the actual mountain.

These paintings have soul,
They pulsate with life,
The careful music of Monk, or Bach,
Visualised with the swish of an ink laden brush
By a solitary master
In a quiet house.
Even this robin, frozen in time,
Seems about to chirrup and hop.

I put away my book of instructions,
It would take me decades to paint like this.
Things that seem effortless, as easy as breathing,
Take half a lifetime to achieve.
But at least I have my palette of words,
Thin lines sketched on off white paper,
And with these I can perhaps begin
To tell a meaningful story.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
November 26th. 2018.

White Porcelain Plate.

The beauty
In a simple plain white plate
Eluded me
Until I watched the moon rise
Above a frozen lake
One still night in November.

A lotus flower unfolding
Did not remind me
Of rebirth and extinction,
Of Buddha or of Christ,
But of a hollow in a beggar`s hand
Held up to me for alms,

Held up to me in greeting.
Held up to me in grief.

A single paper cup
That once held holy water,
But now lies empty
Where the beggar squatted
Is beautiful to me,
More lovely than a curved Champagne glass
Filled to the brim with Blanc de noirs.

Simple things are honest things
I reckon,
We know at once exactly what they are.
Complexity disorientates,
Dazzles the onlooker
Just like a searchlight shone in tired eyes
To shock rough sleepers from their hideaways.

The beauty
Of a simple small white plate
Placed upon my table
Adds a touch of homeliness
To a crowded space
Dominated by my work computer.

I don`t need complexities anymore,
They don`t ring true to life or to nature.
A simple plate may last a thousand years,
A computer is outmoded in six months.
All I need is a clear view of the stars,
Home grown meals, a supply of pens and paper.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter. 
November 15th. - 16th. - 17th. - 19th. 2018.

Trevor J Potter's Art: Street Scene, 9th. Lunar Month 1856.

Trevor J Potter's Art: Street Scene, 9th. Lunar Month 1856.: Studying a print by Utagawa Hiroshige I fall asleep in my rocking chair And find myself quietly strolling through The back streets of Ed...