Flipping the Message About Refugees, With a Poem

In form and message, a poet shows both adults and kids that the world can be looked at another way.

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.

The poem went viral again this month on Twitter, which the pseudonymous Bilston uses so effectively he’s been called “the Banksy of poetry.” With illustrations by José Sanabria, Refugees is also beautifully rendered as a children’s picture book that can be read in two ways. With their natural sense of justice and humanity, kids are quick to understand the poet’s message.

Refugees

by Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)

This excerpt of “Refugees” by Brian Bilston, illustrated by José Sanabria (Palazzo Editions, 2019), appears with permission of the publisher.

Brian Bilston is often described as the "Poet Laureate of Twitter." From fragments of information pulled together from social media, we know he is British and likes tank tops, cycling, and Vimto. In 2014 he became the first person to retain the title of Pipe Smoker of the Year and, over the years, he has won numerous awards for cycling proficiency, first aid, and general tidiness. He won the 2015 Great British Write Off poetry prize for a poem disguised in a Venn diagram. Check out his website: www.brianbilston.com