Allen Ashley is President Elect of the British Fantasy Society. His most recent book is the poetry collection Echoes from an Expired Earth (Demain Publishing, 2020). He has previously appeared four times on the Words for the Wild website.
Unwanted
Put on a fake smile,
gush thankfully, “It’s just
what I wanted.” Already
planning to secrete
it at the bottom
of the wardrobe before
seeing if Sue Ryder
or British Heart
will take it off
your pale hands.
Concentrated smile, fierce
attention, this is your specialist
event and really
you should be in
the medals if you pull out
a personal
best performance
on the local sand track
in front of a tiny
crowd in the rain.
Set. Go.
Put on a brave smile
try to take in the details
of shadows on X-rays
and worrying blood
tests and biopsies
added to a cluster
of symptoms that befell
your father, your mother, your
uncle. It’s a gift.
From biology. No
surprise, it runs
in the family.
Allen Ashley
Strawberry Girl by Allen Ashley
The Teatime Tarzan by Allen Ashley
Greetings from the British Countryside by Allen Ashley