Homeless for two years, James Allison wrote poetry in his truck, and now publishes "Dark Waters" Posted at 05:30 AM ET, 12/17/2012 James Allison spent nearly two years either living in his pickup truck or in homeless shelters in Northern Virginia in 2009 and 2010. While he did, he wrote poetry to capture the experience, and the poetry has now been published. (Tom Jackman - The Washington Post) Four days in my truck motel the hands of time moving backwards my life stalled in reverse from "Life in Reverse," by James Allison Throughout his life, James Allison always wrote poetry. Filled dozens of notebooks with it, but never published anything as his life wound from northern Indiana to northern California to Northern Virginia. The cover of the poetry book "Dark Waters" by James Allison, written while he was homeless in Northern Virginia in 2009 and 2010. (James Allison - Amazon.com) Then in 2009, at age 55, he suddenly had a dramatic, compelling subject: homelessness. His own. He was living in his 1999 Mazda pickup truck, spending most of the next two years parked in church or shopping center parking lots, and living during the coldest months in homeless shelters.