Julia Vaughan


Ophichus

Babylonian astronomers
Created the Western Zodiac
Didn’t want to divide by 13

Wasn’t easy
Didn’t look pretty

Many say I’m a typical Virgo
Pedantic to a fault, curious
Opiniated, generous
Practical and kind

Set in the Middle Ages
To the direction of the sun.

Precession of equinoxes
Shifted constellations.

Astrologers insist
Our Sun travels through
Thirteen, not twelve

Ophiuchus is there.

I am a Leo now
Not a Virgo
Did my traits change?

Did my traits change
With the precession of the equinoxes
Or the insertion of Ophiuchus?

When a Virgo
I married a Pisces
We scored 10 out of 10 in love

He’s an Ox
I’m a Snake
Chinese Zodiac
We score 10 out of 10 in love

He’s a new Aquarius
I’m a Leo now
Polar opposites, hot and cold
Our own idiosyncrasies

Lots of compromises
For long lasting love

My grandfather wrote me a poem
“Julia, Julia quite peculiar.”

Maybe that’s all anyone needs to know






Choices 

Artius had his brand new toilet stolen
installed the day before

He’d come to work with a smile twice around his face
He’d worked so hard to save
He’d felt like a king, for just one day
He was destroyed

We couldn’t help 20 million people
Tried to help one by one
Bought Patrick a brand new bicycle
Found jobs for 4 young men
Created a university scholarship for one
We couldn’t get ahead

So we left

Flew home, to not home

The Immigration Officer
Asked     Why did you leave?
Nothing to do with our visa
All our papers in order
We stumbled to answer
He called us traitors

Won’t go back again.
Won’t be cornered for treason.

What are we now?
Immigrants.                              Citizens born overseas
Counted in the census.            Paying taxes

Speaking with funny accents

Appreciated for our work

Respected

Home



Not Here

Reading good books, lost to reality
Slipping, swirling into a deep rat hole
In my own bubble, my cone of silence
Snatched away from the gruelling real world

Slipping, swirling into a deep rat hole
Drama and intrigue, my heart beats faster
Snatched away from the gruelling real world
Mysteries, love and enduring friendships

Drama and intrigue, my heart beats faster
I am soaking in the deep bubble bath
Mysteries, love and enduring friendships
The Outback, Wild West, in a big city 

I am soaking in the deep bubble bath
Feeling the warm condensation, reading
The Outback, Wild West, in a big city 
I am in the car hurtling through the streets

Feeling the warm condensation, reading
Spellbound, oblivious to day or night
I am in the car hurtling through the streets
Fighting evil, showered with love, happy

Spellbound, oblivious to day or night
In my own bubble, my cone of silence
Fighting evil, showered with love, happy
Reading good books, lost to reality





(A “rat hole” is a non-technical 
term some industrial chemists use, 
for when powders/grains descend 
through a silo, and out from the 
bottom, and how the “current” 
swirls down from the top, into a
a middle creating a funnel / whirl-
pool effect.  

This is a picture I scribbled of 
a rat hole. J.V.)

Julia Vaughan moved to Australia with her husband in 1989, and began writing poetry after attending inspiring Victorian U3A Surf Coast “I just don’t get poetry” classes. Having poems dotted sparsely across the internet, she dreams of becoming an accomplished poet. When not dreaming, she can be found walking on the beach with her husband and two Vizsla dogs.

 
 

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