Yogesh Patel’s writing has appeared in many major literary journals, including PN Review, The London Magazine, Asia Literary Review, Under the Radar, Shearsman, IOTA, Envoi, Understanding, Orbis, The Book Review, and Confluence. He has also appeared on BBC TV and Radio, and in newspapers and magazines. Patel’s work also features in The National Curriculum anthology, MacMillan, Sahitya Akademi, and numerous other anthologies across the world. He is currently a Poetry Editor at Ars Notoria and writes regular columns for iGlobal and Confluence.
His recent book ‘The Rapids’ has garnered praise from eminent personalities. Brian D’Arcy is a prize-winning poet with Irish heritage and music. His latest collection is Ghost Horses Dancing published by Sixties Press. In his review of Patel’s book, he writes, “This volume of poetry by Yogesh Patel is deserving of your attention, not merely for its wide-ranging and unprejudiced approached to the essence of poetry, but especially for its introduction to a new and refreshing poetry genre in the form of a Rapid. The birthright of this genre rests entirely with Yogesh and with it he opens a door to a wordsworthy challenge to all those whose poetic claims would encompass its short, sharp and profoundly discordant clarity. Under his guidance, from its early conception and somewhat formally defined profile it has quite rapidly evolved into its current dynamically adaptive format, as revealed in the ninety-plus pages and profusion of Rapids among the fifty-plus poems included. I suspect it is not by accident that the opening poem in this collection provides an introduction to the basic concept that underlies the Rapid.
Debjani Chatterjee MBE, FRSL, writes: ‘The Rapid is much more than the sum of its structure and layout. Its subject matter and revelation are important. Its teasing, its insight and its surprise element, the enjoyment in the ghazal-couplet-like individuality and connectivity – all these are part and parcel of the challenging new form of poetry.”
