Each episode of This is Not a Poem delves into the intricacies of translation, poetry, and language.

Host, Elliott KB often talks with a featured poet or translator about the craft of translation and the many poets who capture our hearts in both French and English.

This week in This is not a poem we discussed poetic snobbery, literary assumptions and cultural perspectives between the English and French language. We asked “what is a poem?”, and where can we find fun while engaging with art?

We discuss the poem Ceci n’est pas un poeme by Brian Bilston and consider it as translated into French by Yannick Champion-Osselin.

Who is Brian Bilston?

British poet Brian Bilston has earned acclaim as “The Poet Laureate of Twitter” with his clever and humorous verses, amassing up to 400,000 followers. With three poetry collections, a Costa Book Award-nominated novel, and the moniker “the Banksy of the poetry world,” Bilston’s diverse and accessible literary contributions resonate across genres and platforms. You can find his poetry on Facebook, X, and Mastodon. 

Our Host

In Paris via New York and Iowa, Elliott KB is a poet and translator whose work explores themes of estrangement, place, body, gender and intimacy. They have published award-winning poetry in online and print publications alike, and currently work both in the publishing industry and as a professional translator. A part of an interdisciplinary artistic scene, they have now joined the world of radio to host This is Not a Poem.

Guest speaker

With years of bilingual education under his belt and a taste for literature and culture, Franco-British WRP journalist Yannick Champion-Osselin is both a producer and occasional co-host of This is Not a Poem.

Works of art:

• This Is Not a Pipe, aka. The Treachery of Images, a painting by Belgian surrealist René Magritte.
• Illustration of the ‘hat’ from Le Petit Prince, aka. The Little Prince, a novella written and illustrated by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.