On My Wall Hangs a Chinese Panel.

It is a strange country they live in,
Ivory black, with a white moon sinking
Below the shoreline of a gilded island.

And yet these two girls are entirely visible,
Not lost in the depths of their polished black
homeland
That reflects my gaze like an unforgiving
                                                        mirror.
These two girls seem to illuminate themselves
As though from an inner, innate brightness,
Like lauded film stars on a sunlit beach;

Except, this is not somewhere on the French
                                                            Rivera
 At the height of the hot line, photo call season,
Champagne corks popping, photographers barging
through starstruck holyday crowds.
It is Imperial China, the date indecipherable,
The Dynasty unknown, the culture refined,
The girls, in Court Dress, demure, still as the Buddha;
Two butterflies balanced on the edge of time;

Or is it timelessness, I cannot really tell,
Because the sky, the sea, the land do not
                                                         exist
In a format that is realistic and clearly logical
To my irreverent western gaze.

A framed wooden panel painted black
Represents the land, the sky, the sea
In which the gilded island floats
Above the heads of the delicate girls;

And below their feet, a second moon rises,
                                for no apparent reason.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
January 18th. - 28th. 2017. 

Trevor J Potter's Art: Black Rain. (Revised)

Trevor J Potter's Art: Black Rain. (Revised): Tonight the rain is constant, The sky, Black as a hangman`s mask, Presses down hard Upon our earth bound lives, Compressing taut veins...

Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) Dark Transfiguration. (Revised.) (2) Fish Bowl...

Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) Dark Transfiguration. (Revised.) (2) Fish Bowl...:                 1. Dark Transfiguration.     ( A dream recalled.) The feast of the Dormition A threnody of weeping Solemn as winter ...

Trevor J Potter's Art: Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) Dark Transfiguration. (...

Trevor J Potter's Art: Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) Dark Transfiguration. (...: Trevor J Potter's Art: (1) Dark Transfiguration. (New Version.) (2) Fish ... :                 1. Dark Transfiguration.     ( A dream ...

(1) Blue and White Temple Vase. (2) An 18th. Century Inscription...

                   1.

Blue and White Temple Vase.


Instantly created by a sleight of hand
Two cobalt blue dragons dart through
                                      a white ocean
alive with strange creatures that writhe
                                                 wispily
at the very moment a furnace clicked on
To kick start time.


And these cobalt blue dragons swim
                                   without knowledge
in the milk white ocean that is their home,
and always has been although newly born,
This being the Day of Creation.


And all life in the universe is sparked by
                                           these dragons
although they do nothing but chase
                                after each other
without breathing or moving
on the glittering glazed surface
Of a vase in the British Museum.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
January 20th. - 21st. 2017.

------------------------------------------

                    2.

An 18th. Century Inscription Incised into the Base of a Ru Dish.


Inside the palace there are many dishes,
but bowls are hard to find.

Small objects are easy to care for,
but large objects are often dropped and broken.

The emperor in his silks and brocade
must duck and weave to avoid the blade,

but his kitchen porter hauling the swill
may outlast the dynasty.

This small Ru dish is a thousand years old,
but the bowls have all been broken.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
January 20th. 2017.

In the dark of Trump and Brexit I think the best I can do is explore my internationalism in my art with greater intensity and truthfulness, and hope to caste some light by doing so.

Trevor J Potter's Art: Beneath the Ice. (Revised).

Trevor J Potter's Art: Beneath the Ice. (Revised).: A small hole in a frozen pond. The moon shining through still water. Two golden carp chasing a circle, Piscine adolescents, enthralled w...

Beneath the Ice. (Revised Version).

A small hole in a frozen mirror.
The moon shining through still water.
Two golden carp chasing a circle,
Piscine adolescents, enthralled with each other,
Afraid to turn on a pivot and meet.

According to ancient Buddhist literature,
Children seek out parents before conception
Whilst they wait in the shadows, at rest between lives.

The Ancients took such knowledge for granted,
Science to them was just pulleys and wheels
And hammers to break the ice in mid winter.

Love, on the other hand, is akin to religion,
An instinct more powerful than logical thinking,
A moment of empathy that can create a new world.

Meantime I stand alone in this midnight garden
Picturing, for some reason, a sacred lotus
Rising to the surface of an Indian lake, then
Too quickly falling away.

The pond in this garden is shining like metal.
No lotus could grace the cold misty surface.
Last night a bird fell like a stone,
Feathers locked in shards of ice.

A small dark hole in a frozen mirror.
Impassive moon glinting through still water.
Two golden carp chasing a circle
Because only they exist in their world..


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
January 16th. - 17th. - 18th. 2017.
October 10th. - 18th. 2017.
April 17th. 2018.