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Alexa, what is there to know about love? Paperback – 3 Feb. 2022
Brian Bilston (Author) See search results for this author |
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‘Bilston is a magician with words’ - Guardian
The perfect, witty gift for Valentine’s and beyond.
Alexa, what is there to know about love? is a wonderful collection of poems by Brian Bilston, Twitter’s ‘unofficial poet laureate’, in which he frets over the challenges of modern life, extols the pleasures of books, broods over politics, and ponders the curiosities of language.
But at its heart, this is a collection of poems about love. From our caveman days to the internet era, from first dates to love in old age, Alexa, what is there to know about love? has a love poem for every time, place and occasion – and will stir the soul of even the most jaded romantic.
‘Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times.’ - Ian McMillan
‘Someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative.’ - The Times
‘Part John Cooper Clarke, part Frank Sidebottom . . . all brilliant.’ - Esquire
- Print length96 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPicador
- Publication date3 Feb. 2022
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions15.29 x 1.02 x 19.71 cm
- ISBN-101529059577
- ISBN-13978-1529059571
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Product description
Review
Someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative -- The Times
Part John Cooper Clarke, part Frank Sidebottom . . . all brilliant. ― Esquire
Bilston is a magician with words ― Guardian
About the Author
Brian Bilston is clouded in the pipe smoke of mystery.
He has been described as the Banksy of poetry and Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate. With over 50,000 followers, numbering J. K. Rowling, Roger McGough and Frank Cottrell Boyce amongst many, many other luminaries, Brian has become truly beloved by the Twitter community. His first collection, You Took the Last Bus Home, was published by Unbound.
He won the Great British Write Off competition in 2015 – and was the Poet in Residence for the World Economic Forum in 2016. There have been features on him on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the BBC news website, the Irish Times, the Independent and the Smithsonian Magazine. Most of these features seem to have largely centred around his pipe.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
ALEXA, WHAT IS THERE TO KNOW ABOUT LOVE?
Alexa, what is there to know about love?
What is there to know about love?
A glove is a garment that covers the hand
for protection from the cold or dirt and –
Alexa, how does a human heart work?
How does a human heart work?
Blood is first received in the right atrium via
two veins, the vena cava superior and inferior –
Alexa, where do we go to when we die?
Where do we go to when we die?
Activating Google Maps. Completed activation.
Would you like to start from your current location?
Alexa, what does it mean to be alone?
What does it mean to be alone?
It is the silence left by words unsaid,
the cold expanse of half a bed.
It is the endless stretching of the hours,
the needless tending of plastic flowers.
It is an echo unanswered in a cave,
the fateful ping of the microwave.
It is the fraying of a worn shirt cuff,
and the howl – Stop, Alexa. That’s enough.
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Product details
- Publisher : Picador; Main Market edition (3 Feb. 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 96 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1529059577
- ISBN-13 : 978-1529059571
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Dimensions : 15.29 x 1.02 x 19.71 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 24,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 26 in Erotic Poetry
- 63 in Humour Collections & Anthologies
- 67 in Love Poetry (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Brian Bilston has been described as Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate. With more than 200,000 followers on social media, including J.K. Rowling, Roger McGough and Frank Cottrell Boyce, Brian has become truly beloved by the online community. He has published two collections of poetry, You Took the Last Bus Home (Unbound, 2016) and Alexa, what is there to know about love? (Picador, 2021), and his novel Diary of a Somebody (Picador, 2019) was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award. He has also published a collection of football poetry, 50 Ways to Score a Goal (Macmillan, 2021), and his acclaimed poem Refugees (Palazzo, 2019) has been made into an illustrated book for children.
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I mean I like poetry, I even teach it in a Chinese University and I can even pen a few verses myself and had a poem published just last month (April 2021) but buy a poetry book? Me? Nah!
What? Me buy a poetry book?
You know, that just not a good look.
It's for girls and teenagers In Love
Not for old gits like me, kind of
I mean I really just don't have the time
To read something that has a funny rhyme
Yeah Ok its on Facebook and Twitter?
But BUYING a book could just leave me bitter
Yeah, the author does deserve my spare change
And yes, it would be a fair exchange
For his words and thoughts and witty rhythm
So I guess I must really go with him
So I bought it right, and read it through
And laughed until my lips were blue
So who'd a thought it, it's so bizzare
I had to give the book 5 star(s)
If you like poetry read this.
If you don't like reading read this.
If you like reading read this.
Do you get the drift?
Whether you don't or whether you do
Read this.
Just. Read. This. X
It's an excellent collection, proving that poetry can be simultaneously clever, witty, profound and accessible. Occasionally political, frequently poignant and always humourous it's impossible to pick favourites as every one brilliant. A skilled wordsmith, Brian Bilston is a genius and a national treasure.
PS; all those automatic bilge pumps were purchased by me, for use both on boats, and as rainwater cistern overflow failsafe devices.