The Rapids

By Yogesh Patel

Yogesh Patel raids diverse areas of experience and many literatures to make a ‘jazz of poetry’. These poems travel with a Freedom Pass and a crow-sharp eye through Greek, Indian, African and Chinese myth, via the error page and cryptocurrency, all the way to the milk round and disrupted ecologies. They play on connections and disconnections, acting as improvisations that bounce sound and light into the broken corners of the world.
-Imtiaz Dharker




To come across Yogesh Patel’s poetry is like a door opening to the fresh light at the end of a dark corridor. There are poets of the east and poets of the west, but in this collection Patel shows that he is a poet of both sensibilities. In this way, the subtleties of Indian poetic form and tone are gently entwined with those of the English tradition to form a new, delicate and original utterance. Daring, sophisticated and playful - Patel’s poetry is a calligraphy of the soul made visible. It is a rare achievement.
-Steven O’Brien

• Language: English
• Publisher: TLM Editions/The London Magazine
• Release date: Jul 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781919618128

Book preview

The Rapids

Yogesh Patel

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The London Magazine Editions

11 Queen’s Gate

London

SW7 5EL

United Kingdom

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Copyrights

The Rapids

Published by The London Magazine Editions

11 Queen’s Gate

London

SW7 5EL

United Kingdom

Copyright ©2021 Yogesh Patel

The right of Yogesh Patel to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patent Act 1988

ISBN 978-1-9196181-2-8

Printed and bound in Great Britain and through various channels internationally for a local distribution.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover painting by Steven Heffer

Design and type setting by TLM Editions

All rights reserved. This book contains material protected under the International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorised reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording.

Find out more about The London Magazine at:

Thelondonmagazine.org/tlm-editions

Endorsements

Yogesh Patel raids diverse areas of experience and many literatures to make a ‘jazz of poetry’. These poems travel with a Freedom Pass and a crow-sharp eye through Greek, Indian, African and Chinese myth, via the error page and cryptocurrency, all the way to the milk round and disrupted ecologies. They play on connections and disconnections, acting as improvisations that bounce sound and light into the broken corners of the world.

Imtiaz Dharker

To come across Yogesh Patel’s poetry is like a door opening to the fresh light at the end of a dark corridor. There are poets of the east and poets of the west, but in this collection Patel shows that he is a poet of both sensibilities. In this way, the subtleties of Indian poetic form and tone are gently entwined with those of the English tradition to form a new, delicate and original utterance. Daring, sophisticated and playful - Patel’s poetry is a calligraphy of the soul made visible. It is a rare achievement. 

Steven O’Brien

In The Rapids Yogesh Patel unveils a vigorous new poetic form, which looks set to give writers and readers pleasure for years to come. What doubles the pleasure is the way these poems bring the human and natural worlds in together on a single, generous breath. 

Fiona Sampson

Yogesh Patel’s poems are pieced together as fragments of a range of cultures threaded on a sensibility that is philosophical and universalist. The poems take you to places of high tension then turn away to face others as if the world itself were restless and constantly on the move. It is like being engaged in an overheard dialogue with language. 

George Szirtes

About the Poet

Yogesh Patel received an MBE for literature in the Queen’s New Year Honours list 2020. Internationally celebrated, he edits Skylark and runs Skylark Publications UK as well as a non-profit Word Masala project to promote literature. Honoured with the Freedom of the City of London, he has LP records, films, radio, a children’s book, fiction and non-fiction books, and three poetry collections to his credit. A recipient of many awards, Patel was Poet-of-Honor at New York University in April 2019. Among the many venues he has read in, are the House of Lords and the National Poetry Library. 

Patel’s writing has appeared in many major literary journals, including PN Review, The London Magazine, Asia Literary Review, Under the