Yash Raj Mehta – Winner of the 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award
“Gnostic Ruminations” – Yash Raj Mehta’s Esoteric Voyage Through Verse and Vision
Some poetry books whisper secrets of the heart. Others chant mysteries of the cosmos. Gnostic Ruminations by Yash Raj Mehta does both—and more. Winner of the 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award, this powerful collection of 21 poems dives deep into the arcane, the mythological, and the metaphysical, blurring the line between personal reflection and cosmic rumination.
Written as part of BookLeaf Publishing’s 21-day poetry challenge, Gnostic Ruminations is not your average volume of verse. It’s a literary excavation of themes like eschatology, comparative mythology, theology, and even contemporary influences like Godzilla and the fast-paced cyber carnage of Ultrakill. But at its core, it’s a personal pilgrimage—a search for meaning in the chaos of myth, media, and memory.
“I had always wanted to write long-form poems in blank verse,” Yash shares. “Epic poets like Homer, Poe, and Dante were always my compass. This challenge finally gave me the chance to not only honor those inspirations but to finish something that felt like an extension of my soul.”
What makes Gnostic Ruminations so compelling is its ambitious duality. Yash’s poems stand tall with the mythmakers, pulling from theological texts and philosophical ponderings. But they also kneel beside the wounded—introspective pieces that speak of personal struggle, emotional weight, and the quiet desperation that sometimes hides behind divine questions.
His style—an unflinching blend of intellectual inquiry and raw confession—reminds us that even the grandest myths have human hearts beating at their center. The poems echo with the voices of prophets, dreamers, warriors, and survivors, all existing within the poet himself.
The judges of the Emily Dickinson Award called Yash’s work “daring in theme and dynamic in execution—a refreshing fusion of mysticism, modernity, and melancholy.” And it’s easy to see why. His writing feels like entering an ancient temple of thought, where every line is both a relic and a revelation.
In an age of fleeting attention spans, Gnostic Ruminations invites you to slow down, to read between the myths, and to unearth the truths we bury in symbolism. Yash Raj Mehta isn’t just writing poems—he’s decoding existence.
📖 Book Title: Gnostic Ruminations: a collection of poems
🏆 Award: 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award
📍 From: New Delhi, India
📷 Instagram: @juanjoyaborja_guy
