Let Sleeping Cats Lie: Pet Poems - Brian Bilston - ★★★★

POET: Brian Bilston

GENRE: Humorous Poetry

PUBLICATION DATE: September 26, 2024

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A paw-some package of poems focussed on pets and pet parents. (That’s a plethora of Ps!) Mostly funny, sometimes emotional. I’m not a poetry fan, but I am a Brian Bilston fan. So if you like his works, you know what to expect. Much recommended!

Poetry, especially in free verse, isn’t my cup of tea. But somehow, this poet named Brian Bilston entered my life (or rather, entered my social media feeds) and eroded my resistance to this format of verse. I adore the way he threads humour into serious content, though sometimes, his works are just plain wacky. I picked this collection up mainly for him.

The other reason for bravely attempting a poem compilation despite my lack of poetic knowhow is that I love animals, especially dogs and cats. Seeing that cute little cover pic and the funny title reminded me of all the time my grandma’s cats slept on me during the summer vacations, thereby blocking me from any movement. I used to relax in her veranda and read my books while they (she had five!) took turns snoozing comfortably on my lap. This was thus a nostalgia-inducing read.

If you follow Brian Bilston on Twitter or Instagram, you already know what kind of poetry to expect in this collection. These poems are a combination of humour and sentimentality. They are fun, they are intelligent, they are heartfelt. Some are written from the pet owner’s perspective while others are straight from the pets. A few are from a child’s point of view; these are especially hilarious.

As my friends know, my DNA doesn’t include any gene sequence for poetic understanding. So don’t expect any sensible poetry appreciation in this review. All I can tell you about the poems is that most of them weren’t in traditional rhyme, as is common with this poet’s works. I read free verse poems the way I read prose, and that works well for me. But I must confess that a couple of the “poems’ quite stumped me as they didn’t even resemble free verse but big blocks of paragraph. However, as I have no sense of lyrical understanding, maybe they were poems? 🤔

Regardless of whether they were traditional poems or contemporary verse or neither, there’s no denying that the author’s wordplay is beyond par. I always love how he takes the simplest of ideas and adds a dollop of something unexpected. His prowess over words shines in his writing, even when the verse might be something as simple as a cat’s musings over what to eat.

Though the title and the cover art depict a cat, the poems cover all pets. And when I say all, I mean (almost) all. The only pet I truly missed seeing an ode to was the axolotl. (Maybe next time eh, Mr. Bilston?) Of course, as in the real pet world, the dominant voices belong to the two popular favourites: cats and dogs. And some poems even pit the two against each other. These were so funny!

The lengths of the poems vary. Some are just one stanza long while others span multiple pages. A few of the poems are formatted as per their content. My favourite was the one with the snail, though it was mighty tough to read it on my computer. (Not because of formatting issues. The font went up and down and all around, so I had to swivel my neck like an owl’s to read the whole thing! This won’t be a problem in the physical book or on the Kindle.)

I enjoyed most of the poems in this book. But a special shoutout to ‘Hay dude!’: I loved this pet retelling of the Beatles classic, ‘Hey Jude’. It was brilliant!

The only thing that would have offered me greater pleasure from this compilation is the addition of graphics. The nature of the rhymes is such that some cute doodles would have complemented them perfectly. Seeing such humorous content without an accompanying funny illustration feels incomplete.

Overall, I am more than satisfied with this lovely little book. It is such a pup-lifting read that I am not going to pussyfoot around my recommendation.

Definitely recommended to all pet parents and animal lovers. Even if you are not poetry fans, you will strongly connect with the emotions behind the words. The book would be a great gifting option as well. It might work for kids too, though younger ones might not understand every poem.

My thanks to Macmillan Children's Books for providing the DRC of “Let Sleeping Cats Lie - Pet Poems” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.