Billy Jones (artist)

Billy Jones (1935—2012) was an American-born artist and poet, who immigrated to Australia in 1967 and settled in Kilcoy, Queensland.[1][2]

Personal life

In 1968 Billy Jones met and fell in love with Diane Kelly. They moved together to Caloundra, Queensland and eventually settled at Mary Smokes Creek. Kelly died in a car accident in June 1975.[3] Early Influences: this from an unpublished poem of Bill's:

                                INFLUENCES

looking into the eyes of squirrels in crotches of boyhood trees alone in the sanctuary woods looked into the eyes of infinity watching grandad draw birds in Maple Street backyard as he sipped straight whiskey with jug of ice water chasers hobo uncle Eddy who lacked nothing finding Dostoevsky's CRIME AND PUNISHMENT when I was an MP in the Marines in Japan then discovering LEAVES OF GRASS on a base library shelf, the wonder of Walt my father dying in my arms on the kitchen floor when we lived in Pasadena & defacto Diane dead in a drunken car crash in Woodford Queensland where I ended up living like a hermit in ragged tents on the riverbank a friend giving me Buk's THE DAYS RUN AWAY LIKE WILD HORSES OVER THE HILLS vacant lot sunflowers growing wild just down the road in Pasadena about the time I became aware of Vincent Van Gogh that same year living in 40 below Stockholm working shit jobsto help support a wife & baby then migrating to Oz living with no fixed address for years too poor to pay even the cheapest rent these all spring to mind instantly when I think of influences things that made me whatever I am plus most of all perhaps realizing when I was 5 walking home through a summer day in the safety of the Clark Township New Jersey woods & seeing a dead bluejay and realizing that I would one day that would be me

Works

Commencing shortly after Kelly's death in June 1975 and continuing until his own death in July 2012, Jones worked daily on his journal, in which he recorded observations and wrote poetry and sketches. He produced 167 volumes in total.[3]

His published works include:

  • Holocaust at Mary Smokes: poems 1975-83 (1983)[4]
  • The blue chair (1987)[5]
  • Backpocket poems (1988) [6]
  • Wren Lines: Selected Poems and Drawings Volume 1 (2006)[7]
  • Crazy bone: poems & drawings (2012)[8]

The UNSW Canberra Library at the Australian Defence Force Academy holds a large collection of Bill Jones's journals and personal papers.[9]

The Fryer Library, University of Queensland Library holds a large collection of Billy Jones's journals and personal papers.[10]

References
  1. "Billy Jones". AusLit. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  2. Ferney, Liam (1 July 2008). "Liam Ferney reviews Billy Jones". Cordite Poetry Review. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. Pounder, Nicholas (July 2013). "Obituaries: Billy Jones". Fryer Folios. 8 (1): 28.
  4. Jones, Billy (1983), Holocaust at Mary Smokes : poems 1975-83, Hale & Iremonger, ISBN 978-0-86806-114-6
  5. Jones, Billy (1987). The blue chair. Melbourne: Fling Poetry.
  6. Jones, Billy; Vleeskens, Cornelis (1988), Backpocket poems, Melbourne Fling Poetry
  7. Jones, Billy; Hardacre, Paul (2006), Wren lines : selected poems and drawings. volume 1, Papertiger Media, ISBN 978-0-9579411-3-7
  8. Jones, Billy (2012). Crazy bone: poems & drawings. San Pedro, CA: Lummox Press. ISBN 9781929878376.
  9. "Guide to the papers of William (Billy) Jones Collection". UNSW Canberra Special Collections. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  10. "UQFL220 Billy Jones Papers". Fryer Library, The University of Queensland Library. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
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