On the evening of February 10, as part of the Apeejay Kolkata Literature Festival (AKLF) 2024, Maria Goretti, a veteran video jockey and chef, opened up about her poetry at the Poetry Cafe organised at the Alliance Francaise du Bengale. Goretti’s first volume of poems, To the Moon and Back, consists of 40 modern poems capturing the essence of hope, peace, nature, kindness, travel as well as the complicated emotion of love.
Author Ipsita Ganguli introduced the audience to Gorreti’s work, saying: “Maria’s poems are a gush of emotions… like little notes to yourself and, through you, to the world.” In the conversation that followed, Goretti said that “writing came to me naturally and poetry always happened in a flow”. Goretti wrote her first book on food in 2010 and her first poem in 2011, which she kept on her phone, never sharing it with the world. It was her editor at that time who encouraged her to submit her poems.
‘All writing is cleansing your soul’
Ipsita Ganguli (left) was in conversation with Goretti
The process of writing the poems that eventually became To the Moon and Back began more than a decade ago, with the last few years spent mostly on editing. It was during the Covid-19 lockdown, when Maria read a lot about what is happening around the world, that the voice in many of her poems was shaped. “The book has a lot of everything and a little of nothing,” joked Maria, before adding: “All writing is cleansing your soul.”
As Ganguli read out excerpts from Goretti’s book, the focus shifted to hope and how it is a significant theme in the poems. “I believe that the one thing which makes the world go round is hope. It’s not actually love, it’s hope and peace,” described Goretti, who went on to read her poem, ‘Star-crossed’, with the disclaimer that “this is definitely a poem of hope”. Goretti also read out ‘Scars are Beautiful’, which happens to be a personal favourite of hers.
‘When you travel, it always cuts out that extra noise’
Goretti’s book of poems, published in March 2023, has been nominated for the Pragati Vichaar Literature Excellence Awards
Apart from hope, kindness is another recurring theme in the book, as identified by Ganguli. “I’d like to believe that I look at life through rose-tinted glasses, but I’m also very practical,” said Goretti. Both Ganguli and Goretti stressed on the strength and beauty of simple things in life, which allow for a more inclusive way of living. Towards the end of the session, Goretti read out the last poem for the evening, ‘Exactly’, before Ganguli revealed that Goretti’s book has been nominated for the the Pragati Vichaar Literature Excellence Awards.
Speaking to My Kolkata after her session, Goretti, who was born and is based out of Mumbai, shared the impact of travel on her writing and lifestyle: “When you travel, it always cuts out that extra noise. You forget about all your worries, all your stress. It puts you in a brand new space where you actually get the time to be creative and go on your own adventure.” In keeping with her love for travel, Goretti added that readers can expect a lot of sunsets, parks, flowers, butterflies and brooks in her poems.
