Rajinderpal S. Pal's first, acclaimed collection, pappaji wrote poetry in a language i cannot read, was an exploration, a search not only for a place in the world, but for a sense of one's self.

Pulse is a collection of love poems, about the sharing of stories and the sharing of that discovered self. Pal writes about those moments in our lives that we cling to, then draw from as "we strive for fabric and texture" in our lives. With echoes of Ondaatje and Wah, Pal's magical, ringing voice sings intimate. These are sensual poems, explorations of "the pulse in fingertips," and Pulse, the book, is a mature, sophisticated collection of poetry from one of Canada's truest writers.

Rajinderpal S. Pal was named "Best Local Author" by the readers of Calgary's Fast Forward magazine. He also won the Henry Kreisel Award for Best First Book for his critically-acclaimed poetry collection pappaji wrote poetry in a language i cannot read, which spent six weeks on the Calgary Herald bestseller list. He also has won the Calgary semi-finals of the CBC Radio Poetry-Face Of. Pulse has been nominated for both the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry (an Albert Book Award) and the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize from the City of Calgary. He lives in Vancouver.
The former president of Calgary's Sage Theatre and former managing editor of filling Station magazine, he is presently on the Board of Directors of the Calgary Folk Fest and the Arts and Culture Committee of Calgary Foundation. He has participated in international arts festivals such as ArtWallah. Rajinderpal has published in literary magazines throughout North America, and is in translation in Brazil and Portugal.

Rajinderpal Pal's profile page

• Short-listed, W.O. Mitchell Book Prize
• Short-listed, Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry
• Short-listed, Alberta Book Award

There is an enviably wide range of sentiment, form and mode on display in this accomplished collection.
-Vue Weekly

Vue Weekly

. . . will make you feel the sum of life in a heartbeat. . .
-Filling Station

Filling Station

Both subtle and explicit in its narrative arc, Pulse captures the longing for acceptance and forgiveness of the contemporary body.
-Georgia Straight

Georgia Straight

Pal's poems speak of reverence for those things the narrator knows he has distance from . . . his strengths come from the tensions just below the surface.
-The Globe & Mail

The Globe & Mail

The excellence in this book is how it deftly operates between the personal and the national, between how people live their day-to-day lives in the systems in which they live them.
-Calgary Herald

Calgary Herald

[Pal achieves a] richly layered text. . . as he threads the motif through the various byways of memory, remembrance, filial, ancestral, spiritual and carnal love. . . I loved it!
-Richard Stevenson, League of Canadian Poets website

League of Cdn Poets

. . .Yet, Pal is, with Shani Mootoo, a voice that will establish a dominant presence in English-Canadian letters.
-The Chronicle Herald

Chronicle Herald