A Poet's Promise

Rositta Joseph's book of poems titled 'The Poet's Promise', is a scintillating collage of musings, that spans Eros and Thanatos, life instincts and death drive, through 63 poems arranged in 11 sections. The well-structured sections include poems that address Nature, Relationships, Emotions, Spirituality, For the Love of Literature, Love, Places, World, Woman and Survival. Rositta's poems exude a remarkable dexterity in the use of language, resonating with subjective perceptions and empathetic understanding, often oscillating between angst and despair, and yet never ceasing to dream of a world that celebrates universal humanism. Rositta Joseph possesses the primary precondition that nurtures a poet's creativity- a fearless mind.

Dr Rositta Joseph's poetry is instantly likeable and relatable. Her poems effectively reflect contemporary social issues and universal human suffering. The best thing is that, despite being very deep, her poems are easily understandable.

I am not a reader of poetry, much less a reader of an entire book of poems. For right or wrong reasons, I often consider poetic langauge as difficult to understand. I prefer stories. And yet I found Rositta Joseph’s “A Poet’s Promise” quite engaging. Perhaps because the language was simple, everyday words spun together in interesting ways, and because often they told a story. Like ‘Father’s Day’ in which she shares in just 27 lines, some lines holding just one word, a complicated relationship with her father. Or the story behind “Eros”. In general, without making it simplistic, Rositta knitted together a picture, a story, that spoke to me, that touched me with life’s simplicities and complexities in language I could relate to, in words I could understand.

Dr. Rositta Joseph’s collection of 63 poems titled ‘A Poet’s Promise’ captures the essence of three decades of "birthing lines" and speaks volumes about her ability to influence readers. The poet’s battle against the tyranny of time and fate and injustice and her unfazed confidence in love returning manifold restores the reader’s faith in humanity in the very first poem titled "A Poet's Promise". Poems such as “Rebel” makes it clear that the harsh struggles with ground realities and the denials of the world have certainly not tamed the poet’s feminine pride. Certainly, questioning the status quo is Rositta’s hallmark. She asks myriad bold, relatable and pertinent questions, seeking answers that can bring light to the darkness around her. This is exactly what makes her book of poems a truly worthwhile read.

Rositta Joseph's collection of poems 'A Poet's Promise' is highly recommended, not only for poetry lovers but also for those who are averse to elitist poetry and would like to embrace poems accessible to one and all. We look forward to seeing more of Rositta Joseph’s work in the times to come.

Rositta Joseph’s book “A Poet’s Promise” traverses a rich landscape of experience which primarily explores the idea of compassion. Whether it’s the trees speaking their own language, or human dialogues that often betray the meaning of words, or reminiscences that leave jagged scars, Rositta’s sophisticated verse is both poignant and vivid. The implicit appeal for empathy and kindness is the subtext that reaches out, a timely reminder in our troubled times.

Though many people claim to be poets, not all of them have been anointed by the Muses. Writing poetry is something divinely ordained and Rositta Joseph is one of the chosen few. A Poet’s Promise, a collection of 63 poems spanning three decades, is a testimony to her poetic credentials. In the opening piece titled “A Poet’s Promise” the poet appeals to the readers to “cradle” these poems and “not let them fade” and assures them that they will reciprocate their love “a thousand-fold” and the poet keeps her promise.

This volume has been divided into 11 sections and there are some striking pieces such as “Eros,” “Will He Come?” “Change,” “Space,” “Deep Brown Ocean” and “The Temple at Tanjore”. The poet has dealt with a variety of themes. There are poems on temples, cities, rivers, Goddesses, mythological characters and nature. And the poet’s tone varies from joy to sadness to anger, especially when she talks about hypocrisy (“Ahmedabad” and “Manipur”) and the ‘second sex’ (“Woman to Man”). I appreciate her courage to expose the empty rhetoric of politicians (“Manipur”).

The underlying message of this volume is “Life is not all candy floss” and the poet tells us: “Know your knowledge/and/Word your wisdom” (“To Teach a Literature Class”). On the whole, this is a beautiful collection. May the Muses inspire Joseph to write more poems spreading the message of love and hope.

‘A Poet’s Promise’, Rositta Joseph’s volume of poems, speaks of the personal, of the world around, of the complexities of life as they unravel around her. Joseph knits together words, emotions and expression in intricate and delicate patterns that linger on. The 63 poems in the volume reveal a sensitive poet’s response as she negotiates the web of life. Nature, tradition, myth, history, coalesce in the poems creating a tapestry of experienced world. Written in an idiom that is simple, yet vivid, creating a world of thought waiting to be explored.

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Rositta Joseph has proved that she is not just a budding but a promising poet. Her belief in the unparalleled supremacy of true love is reminiscent of John Donne. She never misses a chance to honour the brave, revealing her “poetry of commitment, the strident voice of her social conscience writ large…”

‘A Poet’s Promise’ is Dr. Rositta Joseph’s maiden poetry collection. Hard to come to terms with the fact that it is her first collection, unless you get to know that these are poems written, revisited, rewritten, expanded over three decades. The end product is finely distilled poems.