Two Poems by Julia Vaughan

 

           Lost and Found

 

 

Time strides and slithers 

Who built the fence years before marking 

The way to the beach 

Who’s walked these windswept 

Paths before me? 

Footprints in the sand, long blown 

Away, salty winds softening 

Wood, turning everything metal 

To rust.  Fence is wobbly and warped 

Wires not so taut 

Nothing lasts forever 

Evidence of long ago passers-by 

Strung up on the fence 

Rusty keys 

Every one has a story 

Dogs’ collars 

Lost in the surf and sand 

Then found 

What’s their story? 

Will they still work? 

Like lost memories 

Eroded, faded, by the elements 

Over time 

Ever hoping the owners 

Will come back

 

 

 

           Red Hens

 

 

I ran so often down dingy rough 

Concrete tunnels filled with 

Graffiti, dust and always a stench of urine 

 

Faded, ripe cherry red train 

Rumbles in an Adelaide icon 

Built there too 

 

Grab a burgundy seat ancient 

Polished leather hard steel rails 

Rattling doors and windows 

 

Stinking hot in summer 

Bitterly cold in winter 

12 minutes each way 

 

I knitted a jumper 

Read a hundred books 

Wrote so many letters "home" 

 

Head down avoiding meeting eyes 

Elbows in, briefcase kept tight 

Between my knees and feet 

 

One mad, bad, unkempt man 

Frequently got on too 

Often shouting, spittle flying 

 

Abusive, but maybe, to an imagined person 

I was afraid, hoping 

He'd sit somewhere else 

 

Red Hen trains, faded, ripe cherry red 

Rattling doors and windows 

Hard, cold polished leather seats 

 

I caught them to work in the morning 

I caught them back in the evening 

Until they were, just part of my day 

 

And Adelaide became home

 

Julia Vaughan moved to Australia with her husband in 1989. After discovering inspiring U3A Surf Coast (Victoria, Australia) “I just don’t get poetry” classes, she tentatively started writing poetry in 2021. Having her class-mates encouragement, she has had some poems published, dotted sparsely across the internet. Poetry is her creative, whimsical, stress outlet. Amongst other things, Julia loves walking her Vizsla dogs (especially on the beach), gardening, socialising with friends, and just being curious.

 

Julia’s poems have appeared in :-  Otolith (2021 and 2022), Melbourne Culture Corner (2021), Mad Swirl (2022, 2023, 2024), Writing in a Woman's Voice (2022), Academy of the Heart and Mind (2022, 2023, 2024), Ariel Chart (2022), Bluepepper (2022), Lothlorien Poetry Journal (2022), Adelaide Magazine (2023), Green Ink Poetry (2023), "Roots" digital zine special (The Wee Sparrow Press (2024), The Wee Sparrow Press (2023), The Crow (2024), Under The Basho (2024) and Consilience Journal (2024).