Alexa, what is there to know about love?

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And indeed there are many poems that focus on the age old questionsof love in all its many forms. Here you will find love poems for the ages; for the past; for the future. All quirky, all clever and all deliciously original. Take for example Five Clerihews for Doomed Loves, a tribute to some of the most iconic recorded lovers. No spoilers here but I will say that the poets views of Romeo and Juliet had me cheering in agreement! Liz must have noticed because she placed her hand on my arm as if to restrain me. I may have to write a poem about that later. But the thought of her made me girdle my loins: now was not the time for any spurt-of-the moment grand gestures. Brian Bilston gives us a homely approach to the questions that have puzzled us for thousands of years. Nowadays it’s so hard to get younger people into music” An interview with Jah Wobble on touring, new music, and Brian Eno

And for a bookworm like me the shape poem Tsundoku is just perfection. To the point where I am sure Brian Bilston has bugged my home and is tapping into a recurring argument with Mr C!! ( And if you want to know what that argument might be, you will have to buy the book!)Poetry often has the reputation of pretentious writers twiddling a quill in their study, brewing up farfetched witticisms and flaunting worryingly expansive knowledge of flowers and birds on a laboriously lengthy verse. While I think this image of poets has shifted over the decades, we sometimes need a reminder of the wonders that down-to-earth, lighthearted poetry does for its readers. Brian Bilston’s brand new Alexa, What is There to Know About Love? is an immensely heartfelt collection of poems that make us ask the hard questions about love, but with a giggle along the way. There are poems here that will break your heart; Penguins and Bird Watching spring immediately to mind. Others will make you smile, maybe even laugh out loud; ee Cummings attempts online banking is a great place to start. The final poem, ‘Gun Fight in the Last Chance Saloon’, sums up Brian Bilston’s defiant and quietly revolutionary appeal, to my mind. He may long for a “slow news day” in one of his best-known poems, ‘Serenity Prayer’, but make no mistake. Laughter may be the best medicine, but it is also an excellent weapon when used with craft and skill. This poet is dangerous.

In this latest collection we see a melding of ancient and modern, for example Plato and Google. The poem which lends the book its title is superb - funny, moving and poignant. There were a few stand outs for me, as follows: Baby Queen –‘Quarter Life Crisis’ review: rising alt-pop star delivers an introspective, yet gloriously fun, debut album

His second poetry collection , Alexa, what is there to know about love? contains a number of amusing, poignant, and often beautiful poems about love, taking up the first and last sections of the book. The first section includes ‘The Cavemen’s Lament’, encompasses Plato, Cleopatra and Candy Crush, and a poignant ‘Three Postcards’, set during the first world war. We move on to modern life in the second section, with poems such as ‘There’s a Supermarket Where Once the Library Stood’; the procrastinating ‘To Do List’, with its “stroke the cat” refrain; and ‘As Easy as Alpha Bravo Charlie’, with Bilston wrestling with the Nato phonetic alphabet. Review: FIZZ @ Vinilo Southampton, 31/10/23: indie pop group create dazzling harmonies on their first tour