Yogesh Patel (India/UK) has 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 South-Asian diaspora literature. Previously he has received the Freedom of the City of London. With LP records, films, radio, children’s book, fiction and non-fiction books, and three poetry collections to his credit, he is a recipient of many awards, including an honour in April 2019 at New York University as a Poet-of-Honor. Amidst many venues, he has read in the House of Lords and at the National Poetry Library.  His writing has appeared in many important literary journals, including PN Review, The London Magazine, Asia Literary Review, Under the Radar, Shearsman, IOTA, Envoi, Understanding, Orbis, The Book Review, Confluence, on BBC TV and Radio, in newspapers, and more. His work also features in The National Curriculum anthology, MacMillan, Sahitya Akademi and numerous other anthologies across the world. By profession, Yogesh is a qualified optometrist and an accountant.

 

 

English

 

 

Gujurati


 

Crow                        

 

 There is a crow on the roof             

 looking around for flesh             

 he cares little for mere skin            

 when you see a man             

 looking at your skin, not at you             

 you begin to love the crow

 

 the crow knows             

 that flesh is better than skin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home

 

Only if Abhimanyu knew!

The name of the seventh war zone is

London

 

And there is no way out

(If Krishna knew

He had refrained in silence)

-?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here

 

 

Here

Those few

Rising from a pyramid

Endeavour

To fill the sky

 

Under their

Gargantuan height, deformity

Now

The world prevails crushed

 

 

 

 

લોહિયાળ પંજા

 

છત પર એક કાગડો છે

માંસ શોધે છે

એને ચામડીમાં રસ નથી

પરંતુ જ્યારે જ્યારે તમે માણસને

તમારી ત્વચા સામે જોતો જુઓ છો

તમને સહેજે કાગડા પર વહાલ ઊભરાઇ આવે છે

 

કારણકે કાગડો જરૂર જાણે છે:

ચામડી કરતાં માંસ વધુ ઉત્તમ છે!

 

 

લંડન

 

અભિમન્યુને ખબર હોત તો-

કે સાતમા કોઠાનું

નામ છે

લંડન

 

અને લંડનની બહાર

જતો નથી

એક્કે રસ્તો

--?

 

 

અહીં

 

અહીં

ફલાણા જણ

પિરામિડમાંથી ઊભા થઈ

આખું આકાશ ભરવા

જાય છે.

 

એમનાં રાક્ષસી કદ તથા વિકૃતિ

નીચે

હવ

જગત કચડાયા કરે છે.


Translated from Gujarati to English by the poet