Cirrus@Austlit

This is Jones’s first published work and has noticeably less content than later works. The script is a key feature and becomes a signature of Jones’s; handwritten large block capital letters. Mostly black the script varies from one large font to another, however specific lines throughout are purple or green. This work mostly deals with nature and Jones’s concept of the universe, divinity, enlightenment and illumination. Abstract portrayals of birds, insects and flowers translate themes of joy, contentment, curiosity and self-discovery, which form the overall mood of this work. Depictions of nature are superimposed onto understandings of the universe, the self and human experiences. This work reveals the intimate connection of nature, the universe, and the self and its experiences for Jones. The sun, moon, stars and milkyways are described as the universal garden while nature is given human qualities; dancing, humming and breathing.

Very few poems deal with human interactions though abstract mentions of a beloved feature in a limited number of works. The second last poem of the book introduces sex, a theme which becomes pivotal to Jones work. This poem ties together the three themes which dominate Jones’ work; nature, the universe and sex. ‘Woven together: intertwine, atomic cock, atomic cunt, atomic energy, healing light, of joy, molecular communion, and transforming, structural flowing, touch of rivers, from atom to atom, star into star, open flowers into, open flowers, stars, atoms in the form of cosmic people.’

This work features nine Illustrations small basic sketches of flowers and seeds. Later in Jones’s work illustrations become more elaborate, frequent and relating to the poems. Evidently in this work Jones is still experimenting with illustrations and has not yet found his signature style.

One of Jones’s smallest works, Cup Full Of River consists of eleven poems and no illustrations. Unlike Jones’ first work, this work is typed and formatted in a traditional poetic manner. Some poems roll on for many pages while others are as few as four lines. Poems abstractly deal with real events such as the death of Jones’s father and Diane Kelly in ‘The origin and evolution of the solar system’. These events and encounters are frequently described through nature imagery and directly relate to Jones’ understanding of the universe and spirituality. These poems all have a storytelling nature which features throughout later works, though never as heavily as in this work.

My Unshackled Hands is an extensive compilation of poems and illustrations in Jones’s signature block capital script. This work is dedicated to Diane Kelly with an illustration of two intersecting gum leaves. The poems vary in length and structure, some run on for many pages sectioned by paragraphs while others are a few words or sentences. Most of the poems in this work are abstract portrayals of Jones’s own life experiences, events, encounters or everyday objects or creatures he is viewing. Some are more abstract than others, with many of the meanings being clearly related to a particular event or experience.

The first quarter of this work mostly deals with viewings and encounters with flora, fauna, fruit, the ocean, the moon and stars and activities of the sky. Preceding this, the poems become more graphic and relating to human interactions. Through these poems Jones reveals much about meeting Diane Kelly, their sexual and non-sexual relationship as well as Kelly’s death and the consequential emotions and events Jones experienced. Through other poems Jones reveals snippets of his life from travelling in London and Sweden to shoplifting literature by walking out the door with the book underarm. Many poems detail sexual encounters with various women, interweaving the natural surroundings during the encounters, revealing the inextricable connection between sex and the natural world for Jones. In the book's final poem, Jones confirms this by explaining that he has ‘metamorphosed cunts into orchids and orchids into cunts’, clarifying the many floral illustrations which hold a striking resemblance to female genitalia.

Though nature and sex are intimately tied for Jones, many poems reveal nature is also a source of healing, relief and transcendence for Jones. One poem details the healing power of the birds, insects, animals and plants Jones engaged with during his months of solitude in nature following Kelly’s death.

Frequently, Jones projects the imagery of inanimate objects and creatures onto his own experiences and bodily functions through the poems. This poetic style features throughout this work accompanied by the heavy use of colour imagery, especially red, yellow, cobalt, violet, gold, and silver.

This work introduces the illustrative style which later becomes Jones signature. Unlike previously simple sketches, illustrations are heavily detailed line and dot drawings of plants, flowers, fruit, birds and insects. Later in this work the same illustrative style is used to depict female and male genitalia as well as sexual intercourse. Illustrations feature heavily throughout this work with approximately half of the poems being accompanied by a related illustration.

Holocaust at Mary Smokes from 1983 is listed as one of Billy Jones's first large publications as well as one of the most essential to his career (Austlit, 2014). It was released through publisher Hale & Iremonger in 1983 by recommendation from Australian poet John Tranter as described in a letter-correspondence between him and Jones from early 1983 (Campbell, exhibition invitation, parcel 37, n.p.).

The book consists of 98 poems and 20 artworks that first appeared in this publication. However, many of these poems appear in more than one collection, and a number of them were released again in Wren Lines (2006) or other publications.

The most recurring theme of this book is Jones's relationship with and loss of Kelly. Feelings of mourning her loss and mentions of the anniversary of her death as well as the feelings involved fill his consciousness throughout the poems. Jones establishes his literary influences throughout his poems by quoting and mentioning artists such as Van Gogh, Rimbaud and Shakespeare (Founder, 2013).

Most of the poems are personal artistic notions of his life and thoughts like a number of his previous works. One could argue that this book serves as a poetic diary. It includes mentions through his poems of experiencing a traffic incident and going to jail, his uncle Eddy and his father's death, days spent around Brisbane and the Australian east coasts, as well visual and literary portraits of his friends and people he meets. This book also includes personal poems about his time in the US Marines and the places he visited, such as Iwakuni, Japan.

The Blue Chair was Billy Jones’s fifth published book release and his first with Fling Poetry - a small Melbourne publisher from 1980 throughout the mid 1990s. It was released as a chapbook with just a 100 printed copies.

Not unlike much of his other work, the poems are untitled and revolve around themes of nature, life and death, women, sex and sensuality, notions of certainty and uncertainty as well as personal experiences from this interesting time in his life. The book opens with a foreword in the form of a short quote by the 19th century French poet Rimbaud: “Find flowers that are chairs” - the inspiration for the book's title. The book is divided into two parts; The Countdown and The Aftermath. The Countdown seemingly represents poems before his fifth exhibition which involves honest notions about how nervous he was in the days leading up to the opening night (Jones 3-8). On the other hand, The Aftermath includes poems about his thoughts on how he experienced the opening night, as well as how he was disappointed that he did not win 'the grant', an award handed out by the Australian Literature Board, that year (Jones 13). Notions of his first time appearing on television is also included: "opening night / drinks with the artist / drunk on wine / to cope with the excitement / trip over cord as camera zooms in / catch expensive vase about to fall / I'd never been on tv before / 'don't worry' she said / 'you'll be fine'" (Jones 12).

There are limited illustrations in this book compared to his other work, but the literary imagery in the poetry is ever present. The imagery involves metaphors and graphic descriptions about his sexual encounters as well as the surrounding Australian nature.

Surprisingly, it seems that the underlying theme of lost love that reoccurs in many of his other works (due to the loss of his beloved girlfriend, Kelly, in 1975) is not present in this book. Instead, his mind seems to be focused on a both sensual and sexual relationship with a new unnamed lover as well as his art exhibitions and his career in general. Poems such as the following display honest excitement about his career: "letter from Corny saying / he'll use my poem The Void / is my Heroin in next / issue of FLING!" (Jones 5).

Backpocket Poems was Billy Jones’s sixth published book of poetry and was released in 1988 as his second release through Fling Poetry in Melbourne. Like some of the other publications by Jones, it was only released in 100 copies with all poems and illustrations made by the author himself.

The poems revolve largely around Billy Jones’s everyday life and contain small anecdotes from this particular time of his life (mid to late 80s). It is filled with poems reflecting the thought process of his spontaneous and creative mind. The spontaneity of Jones is especially represented in this book as it is mostly poems written “on-the-spot” as described in a note in the beginning of the book:

“BACKPOCKET POEMS / Began with a stack / of on-the-spot excitement / writing done with feltpens / on bits of miscellaneous / paper folded to fit / my backpocket” (Jones 2)

The recurring themes of the book are the ones that had seemed to dominate his work up to this point in his life; notions of nature and the beauty of life, sex and women, and his literary influences. He also seems to have a small obsession with tree frogs that seem to find a way into quite a few of the poems as well as many of the illustrations. However, the illustrations do not seem to have the same quality as the ones in many of his other published work such as Wren Lines or Holocaust at Mary Smokes. They are most likely also drawn “on-the-spot” like the poems which makes the entire book feel very intimate and personal, but it is also slightly unorganized which is not uncommon for Jones.

The spontaneous nature of the poems reveal a few personal features and interesting details about his life. For instance, an intimate description of the death of his father is enclosed in one of the many unnamed poems. He writes:

“my father died on kitchen floor / Pasadena California 1958 / his one & only heart attack / he was proud of his Indian blood / in my eyes he was a hero / I held his head in / my hands as he / died in a / matter / of seconds” (Jones 14).

There are also witty self-reflections such as the following: “Scottish / Welsh / Italian / American Indian / wildmix meandering my bloodstream / no wonder I’m a poet” (Jones 12).

In addition, there are various mentions of his daughter, Chloe, poetic letters to some friends of his, experiences of being on television, and his first encounter with marijuana. Like in The Blue Chair, Jones also continues to write about his career and how he finds himself running out of money on numerous occasions, which makes his excitement about career opportunities shine through even more.

Jet Lag much like Wren Lines and Crazy Bone is an extremely personal and passionate reflection of Jones’s life and was published by Angus & Robertson Publishers in 1993. Marvin Malone, writing for the Wormwood Review in the USA, described Billy Jones and his work Jet Lag as ‘…a natural phenomenon, a sentient being capable of reading macro- and micro-messages from the Earth and passing them on as poems…to other citizens of the cosmos’ (Web.129:39). One of the most notable elements to Billy Jones’s work is the originality created by the stark way reality is depicted with overt themes of sexuality and nature. His ‘simplistic’ attitude towards life is consistently reflected throughout Jet Lag. Jet Lag briefly details Jones’s life in Pasadena and in Queensland at Mary Smokes Creek near Woodford. His home and family ‘roots’, the local town: post office and supermarket, the creek, the animals on the properties, all the jobs he has ever had, references to indigenous Aboriginal influence or American Indian heritage.

The structure of Jet Lag is unlike his previously published works. Following the brief introductory sub-heading ‘London’, it is divided into four separate sections, each of which describes differing experiences whilst living in Australia and America. The first section is ‘Ozone/O Zone/ Oz One’, indicative of his first experience throughout Australia. Similarly, the second sub-heading is aptly entitled ‘Oz Two/ Oz Too’. Section three is title ‘Laguna’, and section four is titled ‘Back in the Beer Garden’. All of these sections have prominent recurring themes – all of which are woven throughout the last two of his published works: death, loss, love, nature, sex, and sexuality.

Jet Lag begins with an introductory poem, 'Sunflowers', under the sub-heading of ‘London’, that was previously published in Each Seed A Sunflower published in 1975. It reiterates his infatuation with Van Gogh and his series of oil on canvas still life portraits entitled 'Sunflowers' (1888). This poem highlights the year 1966 and Billy’s travels to London and The National Gallery located there. Here it is exceedingly clear that Jones’s works are personal and autobiographical in nature as well as that the content is from everyday inspiration. This is a unique aspect of Jones’s work and is recurrent throughout his published and unpublished works.

Firstly, Jet Lag again has recurring themes of death, loss, and love, all of which are associated with his first love, ‘a promiscuous de facto’ (Jones 7:2) named Dianne Kelly and for which Last Poem for Dianne (Jones 24) was written. Kelly was of particular inspiration throughout her life as she was his love and at her passing as he began his magnum opus. From June 28 1975 until just before his death in 2012, Jones worked everyday on a journal inspired by Kelly. These journals consist of entries, poems, sexual imagery, drawings and photographs. The poem 'Back in the Beer Garden' has a strong focus on the inevitability of death and the shortness of life, of alcohol and influence and loss. His inspiration ranges from his Grandfather’s habitual drawing and his Uncle Eddy’s state of careless liberty and homelessness; a transient lifestyle, to the feelings of happiness after falling in love with Kelly and the overwhelming feelings of loss at her death. Secondly, Jet Lag consists of poems that illuminate his past, his family roots, where he has lived and his life in Australia.

Wren Lines, published by Papertiger Media in 2006, is one of the most comprehensive of Billy’s published works as it is a compilation of the seven previously published works. It has select extracts from all of his previously published works from 1975 to 1983. Due to this, the poems diversify in content and inspiration as they span an approximate eight-year period throughout Jones’s life, each poem reflecting this. As Jones uses influence and inspiration from his life and his surroundings, Wren Lines demonstrates the contrasts of visual imagery and language more starkly. These two elements work in conjunction with one another, the pictures reinforcing the words on the page.

The visual imagery and artwork present have a strong focus on birds, flowers and plants and human anatomy, with a majority of the images having sexual connotation and undertones. It is indigenously inspired due to the line and dot drawing style favoured. All of the images are printed in black and white and as such slightly detract some meaning and emotion evoked within the images.

Crazy Bone was published by Lummox Press in 2012. It was Jones’s last published work and therefore features a slight variance in content. Unlike Jet Lag, Crazy Bone is not divided into sections, but rather is a compilation of poems one after the other, with artworks interspersed throughout. Often these artworks are placed beside the poem as it refers to the content within. The content focuses more on Jones himself, with numerous self-portraits as well as various dedications and paragraphs about Jones written by family and friends.

Crazy Bone focuses strongly on themes of the personal, including forewords by friends and family about Jones. It also features the most prominent people within his life either through poetic voice or symbolic artwork, mainly in the style of a portrait. It features less of the sexual featured within 'Rising Sun Beer' and centres more on his personal experiences in life and those around him. This is a significant divergence from his earlier work as sexual imagery and themes were incredibly prevalent. However, the themes of love, loss and death are all still prominent within the work. Crazy Bone aptly finishes with an artwork by Jones of a sunflower, reiterating one of the most influential people in his life, Van Gogh.