Saturday, 6 June 2020

After the Sudden Storm. (Revised).


Beethoven could not hear thunder,
But could describe it with music.
I listen to him sometimes on the radio,
But only when I`m too tired to write.



After the storm the silence
Transfigures the drenched landscape,
Stuns my mind and senses
With a new tranquility.

This silence is far more perfect,
More potent, more deeply powerful
Than any song or symphony,
The consolations of Chuang Tzu or Buddha,
The last thoughts of Wittgenstein.

After the rain has ceased
My plants grow straight and green
Almost at the instant,
The drenched soil black and beautiful.



In the stillness after the storm
I sit and write this poem,
My fingers tapping the keyboard
Mark a gentler rhythm than raindrops,
The radio now just noise bereft of meaning,

And suddenly all the birds in the neighbourhood
Thrill the air with singing.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
June 6th. - 8th.2020.
As well as intently listening to the news with a growing sense of horror I have this week been reading the poems of both Emily Dickinson and Edward Thomas. We had a very fierce short storm this evening.

Sunday, 31 May 2020

Whit Sunday Morning 2020.


Today is Pentecost, I change my coat
From winter wear to summer wear,
From a navy dye to a lighter colour,
Throw out the loose change from my pockets
And leave them empty of all but hope.

Today is Pentecost, the late Spring flowers
Spread across the garden pathways
Hiding the brutal slabs of concrete.
I tip toe carefully between green fronds
Not wishing to crush them beneath my boots.

Today is Pentecost, gusts of wind
Bend my rose trees, rattle the fences,
Lift slates and tiles from my neighbours roofs;
The old world seems to be falling apart
On this very morning of renewal.

I scrub my old coat in the kitchen
Then hang it out on the line to dry.
Today is Pentecost, the morning sun
Burns my face as I look to the skies.
Suddenly I clap my hands and sing.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter. 
31st. May 2020.

Friday, 29 May 2020

Thursday, 28 May 2020

Fly Past.


I welcome this fly buzzing over my food.
Someone brand new has entered my home,
A perfect stranger from a miniscule world
Unrestricted by Covid - 19 and lock down,
Someone who simply comes and goes.

If this fly has a name, I will not overhear it,
The name will be secret, locked in the fly mind,
A delicate speck of self consciousness
That gives the fly reasons for being a fly.
Each insect has its own small take on the world.

Folk are not as special as we think we are,
We can be killed by a spiky globule of fat
Invisible to the human eye.
Perhaps the fly can avoid what we cannot see,
It has five bright eyes on its little blue head.

This fly takes the loneliness out of the day,
It is a living creature sharing my house
That has been my monks cell for most of the
                                                               spring,
But sadly there is nothing we can natter about,
My life would seem meaningless to gnat or to
                                                               musca,

A dream that this fly will never encounter.
A fly is too buzzy to lie back and dream.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
17th. - 25th. 2020.


Tuesday, 26 May 2020

Trevor J Potter's Art: Ascension. (Revised).

Trevor J Potter's Art: Ascension. (Revised).: Slowly degrading memories. A signature on a testament. A photograph, paper thin and fading, Just like the pages of a discarded book, A ...

Winter Night.