All girls write poetry and participate in the annual Poetry Festival in the Autumn Term, which is judged by a distinguished poet.

It was the 20th anniversary of the festival in December 2007 and our guest poet was Mary Macrae, a former teacher at James Allen's. A selection appear below. The full anthology is available here

 

Why Does The Banana Bend?
Helena Khullar, Imogen Allen,
Lucasta Bath, Lilian Barker
Year 7

The Melon

Why is the melon a fruit?

Dressed up in his best sea green suit,

How can he roll?

'He's shaped like a bowl'

And no-one's the wiser about that!

 

The Plum
What is the plum?

A golden globe,

Wrapped up in a purple robe,

Sweet and juicy,

Deliciously fruity,

The Plum is a fruit bowl beauty.

 

The Apple

Why is the apple red and green?

Those two colours are too boring to be seen,

Although its skin is smooth and shiny,

It's beautifully round and not at all tiny,

I think the apple is a marvellous thing,

It's hung on the tree by a wooden string,

He smiles and waves at any human gaze,

The apple is a marvellous thing!

 

The Orange

Why is the orange round

So silent as fruit doesn't make a sound

Or maybe it does

We will never find out,

It's not going to open it's mouth and shout:

WHY DOES THE BANANA BEND?

 

Winter Night

Katherine Lyness, Year 7

 

Midnight

The dark draped over us like a black velvet blanket

As we trudged through the snow

The sky was peppered with a million stars

Motionless in the frozen dark

 

Our footsteps crunched in the forest

The ground hard against our feet

Breaking the icy snow as we slowly moved forwards

Each breath harder than the one before

 

Until the house came into sight

The soft glow shimmering in our weary eyes

Windows twinkling in the moonshine

We would sleep after all that night

 

The Frightener

Aoi Phillips, Year 12

 

The sound of distant footsteps,

Is there something there?

A whisper in the bushes,

It's giving you a scare.

The whistle of the wind,

The spooky atmosphere,
The crunch of twigs behind you

It's definitely here.

 

A rustle in the tree tops,

I think it's very close

Was that your heart thumping,

Or maybe something else?

 

Pictures from the night

 

    

   

 

 

  

 

---