Celebrating A Poet’s Promise: Book Discussion with Dr Rositta Joseph and Poets of Delhi Community

On the 7^th of September, 2025, The Poets of Delhi Community organized an online discussion on Dr Rositta Joseph’s book ‘A Poet’s Promise’ (Black Eagle, USA, 2025). The discussion was chaired by Mr Ravi, the founder of Poets of (India) Community, a nationwide collective of poets. Poets from across the country actively participated in the discussion.

The event began with poetry readings by budding and experienced poets from various states. The chief guest at the event Dr Rositta Joseph then spoke about her experience of writing poetry and the various themes of the poems in her book. She read out excerpts from several of her poems. Her book ‘A Poet’s Promise’ contains 63 poems gleaned from three decades of writing dating back to the poet’s childhood years. Covering diverse areas such as Nature, relationships, emotions, spirituality, literature, love, travel, socio-political issues and womanhood, the book concludes with a section titled ‘Survival’ wherein poetry becomes a means of overcoming all odds.

The participants in the event appreciated the poet’s work and observed how every poem was an offering of love to the readers. They concluded that these poems embodied existence, identity, struggle, survival, and above all, raw humanity. Through moments of despair and elation, light and darkness, they had the potential to be catharsis, inspiration and undying hope.

The participants also asked several questions about the poet’s journey as also the major influences on her poetry. Dr Joseph saluted Robert Frost’s poetry that conveys the greatest truths and wisdom of life in the simplest of words – a great inspiration for her. She called for making poetry understandable to all without compromising on the depth of thought, so that poetry might flourish once again and brighten the lives of many.