Pipe smoke or not, Bilston’s commitment to his poetry and his followers is clear, with new poems appearing daily. Form plays a major part in his writing; poems appear as tweets, Scrabble clues, tree images, Excel spreadsheets and even Venn diagrams, as with his poem At the Intersection, which won the 2014 Great British Write Off.

It contains a poem for every day of the year, each one inspired by an event associated with that day – from the invention of television to World Bee Day; from the first appearance of Barbie to the banning of flirting in New York; from Independence Day to the first transatlantic phone call. Refugees, a powerful poem by Brian Bilston, reminds readers to be greater than their preconceptions, to look beyond shallow stereotypes and to think twice before making unfair judgements about the less fortunate. This is not really a question as such, more just a place-name followed by a question mark. The same goes for ‘Scotland?’, ‘The North-East?’ and ‘Melbourne?‘. If the question is “Will I be doing any shows in Cornwall (Scotland, the North-East, Melbourne etc)?” then the answer is that I would love to, but I’m all booked up for 2023. Over time, I’d like to read my poems in all sorts of places. Even the Isle of Wight.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “Refugees”

Bilston’s message that has been retweeted over 10,000 times since it was posted last week, is an inspiring act of humanity. Starting out like many users, by posting comments, jokes and puns, Bilston moved on to short poems “and was genuinely surprised when one or two people posted nice comments. The confidence and the persona grew from there.” How much of the persona is linked to his real life identity? “It’s about 92 per cent me with 8 per cent added pipe smoke.”

It is provided in both Word (to allow for easy editing) and PDF (to ensure for consistency of formatting between computers). In his tweet-length poems, he juggles entendres: “you took / the last bus home / don’t know how you got it through the door / you’re always doing amazing stuff / like that time / you caught a train.” But the playful needling becomes a skewer in his longer fare. In an age where social media is a tool for self-promotion, Bilston goes against the grain by using the form to mask his identity. The idea of a persona developed organically, with “Brian” starting life as a football correspondent for a fictional newspaper, The Dudley Echo. Popularity of “Refugees”: “Refugees” by Brian Bilston, a British poet, writer, and social media activist, is an interesting piece about migration and refugees. The poem first appeared in 2019 on social media after which it has won popularity on account of its unique subject matter. The poem highlights the poet’s advice to the natives on how to treat the refugees with contempt with the message to see the world from some other perspective. Despite the followers and the social media Poet Laureate accolade, Bilston is still reluctant to call himself a poet. “I’m just someone who writes poems,” he says.

Summary of Refugees

Bilston’s popularity saw his Unbound project to publish a debut collection of poems get funded in under three days, with donations continuing to amass. Currently funded at 160 per cent, You Took the Last Bus Home will be published later this year. Activities across the booklets are as consistent, to provide an equal understanding of each poem, and include (amongst many others): Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example; Bilston has a book of his poems - You Took the Last Bus Home - due to be published by Unbound in time for National Poetry Day in October. No, it is my intention to be on time for all future events, despite travelling by network rail to most of them. I am factoring in a cushion of 72 hours into my journey times to offset any rail delays.

As many of you know, I will be embarking on a tour over the coming months, on which I shall be reading some of my poems in front of mildly perplexed and bewildered audiences around the UK. I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of the most common questions I get asked in response to this news.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used In “Refugees”

As millions of people flee bombing in Ukraine, most media and political comment has been rightly sympathetic. But refugees from other parts of the world, like those escaping war in Syria or violence in Central America, are often described very differently. That scapegoating is turned around in “Refugees,” a 2016 poem by British poet Brian Bilston. It’s a “reverse poem,” meant to be read from the top and then from the bottom—completely changing the framing from suspicion to sharing.