Book Discussion on A Poet's Promise at The Neem Event

On the 30^th of August, 2025, The Neem Conversations organized an online discussion on Dr Rositta Joseph’s book ‘A Poet’s Promise’ (Black Eagle, USA, 2025). The Neem, a scholarly platform for promoting literary appreciation, is an initiative of the research scholars, faculty and students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India and includes eminent literary personalities from across the country. The Neem has interviewed eminent literary figures including Booker Prize winners from India and others. This was the first time they were discussing a poet.

The discussion was chaired by Professor Rupalee Burke, veteran academician, author and translator of poetry from Ahmedabad, Gujarat and moderated by Dr Umesh Kumar, Assistant Professor of English, BHU and chief convenor of The Neem Conversations. Dr Rositta Joseph’s poetry and its relevance for contemporary times were critiqued in-depth during the event. A number of students and scholars from across the country, especially BHU, actively participated in the discussion.

The event began with the poet delivering a lecture about her book as well as the relevance of poetry in contemporary times according to her worldview. She read out excerpts from several of her poems. The session chair Professor Burke observed that Dr Rositta’s poetry is panoramic in its scope and vision and embraces all the beauty and bruteness of human existence. Her poems truly matter because they are written from the ground and jolt readers out of their comfort zones into thinking about making life meaningful amid all its ugliness and injustice. She called for including these easily understandable poems that can be embraced by all in school and university syllabi.

Students and scholars also spoke and raised questions about the process of composing poetry, the primacy of emotion in poetry, the need to write accessible poetry, the importance of rhythm and metre in contemporary poetry, the highly evocative imagery in the poems and the significance of the promise made to readers, in Dr Joseph’s book, of reciprocating the love of readers by sharing deeply in the collective experience of life.

Dr Joseph revealed that, though she was influenced by all the people, places, events and poets she had come across, the poetry of Robert Frost, the beloved American poet was her chief inspiration. She saluted Frost’s poetry that conveys the greatest truths and wisdom of life in the simplest of words. She also called for making poetry simple enough to be accessible to all, so that poetry that is struggling for survival today might flourish once again and positively influence the lives of many.