Alison Allen

Reigate, UK

A former teacher living in the south of England, Alison Allen writes novels and short fiction as well as poetry. Her stories have been featured by Writers’ Retreat, Café Lit and Shortkidstories. A children’s novel was longlisted by Mslexia in 2016. Her poems won her first prize in Writing Magazine’s Open Poetry Competition in 2018, and in the annual competition run by the National Association of Writers’ Groups in 2019.

Date completed: 1/7/2020

2020

How will we learn to speak of the year that’s marked in red?

Will we whisper or rather weep for the year that’s marked in red?

 

Stay safe; stay alert; stay as far as you can from others;

what message should we keep from the year that’s marked in red?

 

If you’re wide awake, count sheep - or sacrificial lambs -

how can we go to sleep in the year that’s marked in red?

 

Another business folds and sinks without a trace;

how many blanks in the bank sheet of the year that’s marked in red?

 

And so we talk and sorrow and shout, and shake our weary heads:

what kind of harvest will we reap from the year that’s marked in red?