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Coconut
In her debut collection, Canadian National Slam Champion Nisha Patel commands her formidable insight and youthful, engaged voice to relay experiences of racism, sexuality, empowerment, grief, and love. These are vitally political, feminist poems for young women of colour, with bold portrayals of confession, hurt, and healing.
Coconut rises fiercely like the sun. These poems bestow light and warmth and the ability to witness the world, but they ask for more than basking; they ask readers to grow and warn that they can be burnt. Above all, Nisha Patel’s work questions and challenges propriety and what it means to be a good woman, second-generation immigrant, daughter, consumer, and lover.
Coconut rises fiercely like the sun. These poems bestow light and warmth and the ability to witness the world, but they ask for more than basking; they ask readers to grow and warn that they can be burnt. Above all, Nisha Patel’s work questions and challenges propriety and what it means to be a good woman, second-generation immigrant, daughter, consumer, and lover.
108 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2021
2 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Nisha Patel
52 books24 followersNisha Patel is a queer spoken word poet & artist. She is the City of Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, and the Canadian Individual Slam Champion, and has been performing and writing in her community for five years. In 2021, she will be acting as one of the Edmonton Public Library’s Writers in Residence. She is the founder of Moon Jelly House, a publishing house centering the voices of marginalized poets by publishing chapbooks for emerging spoken word artists. She is two-time Canadian Festival of Spoken Word finalist. During this time, Nisha was also recipient of the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund Award, and is the current Executive Director of the Edmonton Poetry Festival, Western Canada’s largest poetry festival.
Over the years, Nisha has performed across Canada and the world from small town Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to metropolitan Seoul, South Korea. She has visited over 15 cities during her three Canadian and European tours. With over 175 performances, Nisha is committed to furthering her goals of writing and reading to audiences that need it. Her poetry speaks to themes of race, her disability, feminism, and identity, focusing strongly on her struggles and triumphs as a woman of colour. She strives to build strong relationships, mentorship, and opportunities for artists around her, believing in the possibility and forgiveness of the Edmonton arts scene. As well, Nisha has become a key member of the national poetry community, serving three years on the board of SpeakNorth, Canada’s spoken word collective, and founding a nationally-reaching queer femme South Asian artist collective, MAZA, in 2019.
Nisha is an alumnus of the University of Alberta School of Business. She seeks to combine her academic skills and knowledge with her artistic practice, offering workshops on financing, grants, and management for artists through a variety of organizations. She has mentored youth and mature poets alike during two back to back residencies at The Nook and The Sewing Machine Factory in Edmonton.
Nisha works to further her goal of building a stronger artistic community through the only way she knows how: living in her truth.
Over the years, Nisha has performed across Canada and the world from small town Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to metropolitan Seoul, South Korea. She has visited over 15 cities during her three Canadian and European tours. With over 175 performances, Nisha is committed to furthering her goals of writing and reading to audiences that need it. Her poetry speaks to themes of race, her disability, feminism, and identity, focusing strongly on her struggles and triumphs as a woman of colour. She strives to build strong relationships, mentorship, and opportunities for artists around her, believing in the possibility and forgiveness of the Edmonton arts scene. As well, Nisha has become a key member of the national poetry community, serving three years on the board of SpeakNorth, Canada’s spoken word collective, and founding a nationally-reaching queer femme South Asian artist collective, MAZA, in 2019.
Nisha is an alumnus of the University of Alberta School of Business. She seeks to combine her academic skills and knowledge with her artistic practice, offering workshops on financing, grants, and management for artists through a variety of organizations. She has mentored youth and mature poets alike during two back to back residencies at The Nook and The Sewing Machine Factory in Edmonton.
Nisha works to further her goal of building a stronger artistic community through the only way she knows how: living in her truth.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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April 15, 2021I feel like fans of Rupi Kaur will enjoy this poetry collection; unfortunately though it was not for me.
June 13, 2023
3.5 stars. A brilliant debut collection of poems painted with an artful yet relentless hand. The imagery throughout the collection is phenomenal. Spoken word poetry doesn't always translate well to print, but Patel is clearly a master of the craft. Favourites included Self-Portrait of the Artist As a Sari and Nine Things I Want to Say to Elizabeth Gilbert.
A couple of the poems did feel a little repetitive to me, using similar language to explore similar ideas. All of Patel's poems are impressive and stand up on their own, but when put in a collection so close to other poems so similar I felt that it somewhat weakened the composition of the collection as a whole. That said, this is still a powerful collection worth all of the praise it has received. Patel as a poet has a very strong voice, and I am excited to read more of her work.
A couple of the poems did feel a little repetitive to me, using similar language to explore similar ideas. All of Patel's poems are impressive and stand up on their own, but when put in a collection so close to other poems so similar I felt that it somewhat weakened the composition of the collection as a whole. That said, this is still a powerful collection worth all of the praise it has received. Patel as a poet has a very strong voice, and I am excited to read more of her work.
June 14, 2022
Coconut is a varied selection of poems by Nisha Patel that carries its reader through the
experiential peaks and valleys of queer immigrant stories, navigating the complicated waters
and untamed forests surrounding it.
A collection of heart-wrenching, truth-telling stories screaming into the skies to take up space
where it has never been welcomed, Patel’s unapologetic voice in this debut collection gives
way to deeper meaning-making and perspective as you inhale and exhale her words.
Favourite lines:
“the girl in the green apron asks for a name to stain on
the white casket where she will brew my bloodlines
into something more palatable for
seventh-generation tongues”
“justin (trudeau) thinks, they sound nothing like yoga class,
the kind that the office offered for free
the same week they hired two engineers
whose names he couldn’t pronounce.”
experiential peaks and valleys of queer immigrant stories, navigating the complicated waters
and untamed forests surrounding it.
A collection of heart-wrenching, truth-telling stories screaming into the skies to take up space
where it has never been welcomed, Patel’s unapologetic voice in this debut collection gives
way to deeper meaning-making and perspective as you inhale and exhale her words.
Favourite lines:
“the girl in the green apron asks for a name to stain on
the white casket where she will brew my bloodlines
into something more palatable for
seventh-generation tongues”
“justin (trudeau) thinks, they sound nothing like yoga class,
the kind that the office offered for free
the same week they hired two engineers
whose names he couldn’t pronounce.”
May 14, 2022
Canadian National Slam Champion Nisha Patel bursts out of left field and knocks the reader over the head with wild, hilarious and moving pieces. The work speaks volumes about racial strife, misogyny, homophobia, social and political injustices. As the reader moves through the collection, the works get more intense and gut wrenching. Moving and completely freeing in breaking boundaries, Coconut is a gem one needs to savour slowly.
July 19, 2021
So good! I read it slowly to savour every word. Powerful. Gut wrenching.
May 12, 2022
It’s not easy for spoken word to transition to the page with the same power, but Patel does exactly that.
June 28, 2023
Cried the entire time I read this, & felt all the things I’ve been trying not to feel. This book is everything poetry is supposed to be
February 3, 2024
A wildly relentless collection of artful, powerful poetry from Canadian National Slam Champion Nisha Patel about race, queerness, hurt and healing.
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September 14, 2024Brilliant. Thank you for bleeding your heart into these pages.
October 25, 2024
i WOULD pay taxes to her
10/10 6 stars no notes
10/10 6 stars no notes
December 21, 2024
This collection of poems was a mixed bag for me. Very feminist in nature, which I appreciate, but some of them were a little too in-your-face for my taste. I would read more from Patel though.
November 24, 2024
FORGOT THAT I READ THIS but actually my score is 2.5/5 stars on this. It had some like, pretty cool ideas that did gag me but ngl, the writing felt a bit cliche and doesn’t flow as smoothly on paper. Maybe because Patel’s more of a slam poetry typa person, like these kinda feel like horrible transcripts of a slaptacious collection of slam poetry
also I will say, I’m surprised I haven’t been to a single slam. went the whole drama kid route w/o going through that is actually wild
also I will say, I’m surprised I haven’t been to a single slam. went the whole drama kid route w/o going through that is actually wild
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews