The Rapids

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