Tower and Town, September 2025 (view the full edition)Brian Bilston - Alexa, What is There to Know About Love?
Brian Bilston, however, embraces this challenge in a witty and humorous anthology of poems that discusses the progression of love across the timeline of humanity. He explores contemporary ideas of love in the digital age of Google and AI, along with the same concepts dating back to Ancient Greek philosophy and the Palaeolithic period. As a philosophy student myself, I feel naturally drawn to the poem entitled 'Mrs Plato' that details the day-to-day life of the, often resentful, wife of the founder of early philosophy. Here, Bilston explores the less glamorous side of being married to the 'smartest man alive', how Plato's psychological questioning is never ending, and how his job clouds his love life, traits in married relationships that remain today, and were not buried with Plato in 348 BC. Bilston's imaginative, possibly implausible, ideas are part of what makes his poetry so appealing. He discusses the historical side of love that textbooks never focus on, solely based on an empirical observation of love now, and love then. While his comments on love are a delight to read, I do not recommend employing any ideas from poems such as 'The Caveman's Lament' in romantic pursuits: best to leave the cooking of 'Diplodocus with fried beans' to the experts. Brian Bilston will be reading from this and his other poetry collections in the Memorial Hall, Marlborough College, at 5.45pm on Saturday 27 September. Luke Barton |
In today's world, love isn't a generalised ideal amongst the public, making it difficult to write about love in a way that resonates with a wider audience.