Using the pseudonym Brian Bilston, he began publishing short and pithy, often humorous, poems on Twitter, which were then spread widely on social media. He gained up to 400,000 followers, and has been described as "The Poet Laureate of Twitter".[2][3] The poet Ian McMillan described Bilston as "a laureate for our fractured times",[4] and he has been compared to Don Marquis, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash.[5]
Bilston has published three collections of verse, You Took the Last Bus Home (2016); Alexa, What Is There to Know About Love? (2021); and Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022). He has also written a book of football poems, 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021). His first novel, Diary of a Somebody (2019), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for First Novel, and his poem "Refugees" has been published as an illustrated book for children.[5][6] In 2023, he published a book of "seasonally adjusted poems", And So This Is Christmas.[7]
He has been called "the Banksy of the poetry world";[8] in publicity photographs promoting his speaking tours, he hides his face behind a book.[4]
