'The Sets' was published by Otago University Press in February 2021.
2020
Oh boy. If you’re reading this, you made it through. A freak, a mutant, the year that said “BOO!”
Socialist poet in Dunedin bites back at Taxpayers’ Union attack
Dunedin writer Victor Billot has responded to a bizarre attack by the Taxpayers’ Union with a simple message: “get a real job."
The mind virus of right wing conspiracies
The danger here is because we live in the 'bubble of the present' some will believe the confusion being sown by the far right and conspiracy theorists, who now appear to be merging in a bizarre new ideology. It is important to resist this wave of dangerous nonsense.
Showing promise: a poem for Hamish Walker
The MP for Clutha-Southland
did, it is true, post on Facebook that
he had been door knocking in Mataura
when he hadn’t.
Working Class Hero
As Minister of Social Development I went hard, I developed people out of houses into cars.
Ride the Dave Wave: a poem for David Clark
Hark! Hark! It’s Dave Clark, riding his unicycle round the bike park.
Green Eggs and Porridge: a poem for Prince Andrew
My name is Andy Wyndzor,
I’m aged 60 or so.
Occupation not stated,
of no fixed abode.
Go Big or Go Home: a poem for Donald Trump
Prezident Cheezel deletes lockdown,
deletes the World Health Organization,
deletes the memory of George Floyd,
then hunkers in his hunker bunker ...
The Rise of Toad: or a verse marking the anointment of a new leader of the National Party, 22 May 2020
All hail! Glad tidings O countrymen and womyn! The battle for the soul of our green and pleasant land is joined again: the banners blue unfurled and proud, stamped by the novel emblem of a Toad! Now just wait a minute, interrupts Simon the Unfortunate, before Lord Toad steps up nimble and lops his head. …
The Conspiracy
One thing I have noticed really ramp up in recent times is the profusion of conspiracy theories on the internet.
Automated for the People
Published as part of the Dunedin City of Literature Possibilities Project For a start we are all awarded a year off, paid to do whatever we want. Aeroplanes are out, so we board sailing ships and crazy coloured zeppelins. We live for a long time (if we want.) It’s true that most of us are …
Stray Light
billot · Stray Light
Two poems in Takahē
Two poems of mine have been published in Takahē 98, Rage Virus and A Sea Wife. Thanks to Takahē who got this issue out online despite the current situation.
Bat Flu
https://youtu.be/dNNABc4rKEE At first it’s novelty. A chance to catch up on housework. Garden trimmers burst into life. Unwanted noise becomes reassurance, a signal of normality over the hedge. But the world’s grown strange beyond the letterbox. The Government prints money, gives it away. It's early days: Cupboards still half full, accounts still in the …
Victor Billot 