Yogesh’s poems are Jazz! The poems in The Rapids express the living movement of thoughts rushing between rocky outcrop of words. This is also a secret of Yogesh’s new poetic form. He cracks his poems open in the knowledge that they will cohere somewhere in the mind of the reader. He does so in the knowledge that this will let in air and light, and the scared water of the Wandle.

• Philip Richard Hall

What falls to pieces does not need to disseminate into darkness or pandemonium. Like harnessed rapids, as in an exhilarating ride, coherence can emerge. Meaningful living can be assimilated from it. Past coexists with our present. So, the allusions to mythological characters and folklore help extend the meaning and become participants. They do not just dress up our reality; they allow us to connect to our heritage. These intricate poems take this aboard and explore the loss of someone or love, displacements, a crisis of identity, belonging, breakups, and social and political engagement. Dabbed in ruffled sadness, but bridging through reasoning, they negotiate a passage to the emotional sanctuary.