Australia Poetry Magazine –

"Spirit" by Cheryl Vaughan

(Advertisement)

Title image shows a nightime view the Sydney Opera House.

Home | Submissions | Published | About

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry (including haiku and spoken word), visual art, photography, play, and fiction submission opportunities. Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.

Janaury 15th, 2026

Spirit

by Cheryl Vaughan

Intensity has a space, a shape
the day you promised to take me out
worked all night fixing the car
under the bonnet,
the hoses pulsed and glowed
in the light
like fat green snakes
that hid here and there
the wonder of you fixing it in time

The twilight of illness
not well enough
for the party
you waited for my signal at the window
walked me home early

That day in the city
stepped into the crowd
of legs head high
my weaving feet
and the heat and light that poured
from an open taxi door
escape

How the grape vines
weaved their old bones
to make the dark space
of ripened fruit
at my grandmother's house

The house we visited once
way across town
that garden, and the wind that stirred
the air so charged
it blew inside
and rested on my knee


About the Poet
Cheryl Vaughan resides in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications on Cheryl Vaughan's Artist Page.

This poem is also featured in Comet #7, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.

Keywords: childhood, memory, divinity

Previously published in Australia Poetry Magazine:
Greenway Lane
by ctfg

Home | Submissions | Published | About

Australia Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Florencia Bay Books and specified artists.
- AI Training is not permitted on this website.

(Advertisements)