Not Alone, page 35
scimitar hit by silent flares,
from war-heavy parachutes,
assassins en-masse miming daybreak,
dark crack troops in aim and guile.
Greens and browns succumbed,
to bridgehead evil fluttering,
battalions everywhere at once.
No wind assisted axis here,
only remorseless gravity,
kept helpless gardens flattened,
suppressed indigenous colour.
Accoutred with falling spikes,
frozen pikes and spears linked,
invasion iced a victory cake,
including field, roof and shed,
obliterated hope of cease-fire spring.
The tops of pots and regular posts,
bristling hexagon gunneries.
White spite ruled, naturally,
dangerous and pristine,
hard blanketed, universal
encroachment, domination.
Would blade or sod be seen again,
path told from peace time lawn,
all underneath lie dead?
But out of the strong came forth weakness,
the first drip on flag resistance,
watery runs down wood,
piled up look-outs lowered,
dendrite bonds broken.
Barometers rose up and
the corps d’élite surrendered.
About the Author
SARAH K. JACKSON is an ecologist with a keen interest in human–wildlife coexistence, conservation, climate change and microplastics pollution. She studied Psychology and Criminology at Cardiff University, before doing a Master’s in Conservation Ecology at Oxford Brookes University. Not Alone is her first novel.
First published 2023 by Picador
This electronic edition first published 2023 by Picador
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
EU representative: Macmillan Publishers Ireland Ltd, 1st Floor,
The Liffey Trust Centre, 117–126 Sheriff Street Upper,
Dublin 1, D01 YC43
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-8960-8
Copyright © Sarah K. Jackson 2023
Cover images: © Karina Vegas & Erin Bankston/Arcangel Image and © Shutterstock
Author photograph: © Richard Jackson
The right of Sarah K. Jackson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.picador.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
Sarah K. Jackson, Not Alone
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from war-heavy parachutes,
assassins en-masse miming daybreak,
dark crack troops in aim and guile.
Greens and browns succumbed,
to bridgehead evil fluttering,
battalions everywhere at once.
No wind assisted axis here,
only remorseless gravity,
kept helpless gardens flattened,
suppressed indigenous colour.
Accoutred with falling spikes,
frozen pikes and spears linked,
invasion iced a victory cake,
including field, roof and shed,
obliterated hope of cease-fire spring.
The tops of pots and regular posts,
bristling hexagon gunneries.
White spite ruled, naturally,
dangerous and pristine,
hard blanketed, universal
encroachment, domination.
Would blade or sod be seen again,
path told from peace time lawn,
all underneath lie dead?
But out of the strong came forth weakness,
the first drip on flag resistance,
watery runs down wood,
piled up look-outs lowered,
dendrite bonds broken.
Barometers rose up and
the corps d’élite surrendered.
About the Author
SARAH K. JACKSON is an ecologist with a keen interest in human–wildlife coexistence, conservation, climate change and microplastics pollution. She studied Psychology and Criminology at Cardiff University, before doing a Master’s in Conservation Ecology at Oxford Brookes University. Not Alone is her first novel.
First published 2023 by Picador
This electronic edition first published 2023 by Picador
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR
EU representative: Macmillan Publishers Ireland Ltd, 1st Floor,
The Liffey Trust Centre, 117–126 Sheriff Street Upper,
Dublin 1, D01 YC43
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-5290-8960-8
Copyright © Sarah K. Jackson 2023
Cover images: © Karina Vegas & Erin Bankston/Arcangel Image and © Shutterstock
Author photograph: © Richard Jackson
The right of Sarah K. Jackson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Visit www.picador.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.
Sarah K. Jackson, Not Alone
