An Imaginary Affair is a collection of sensitive and sensuous poems for poets and non-poets who appreciate the challenges and intricacies of being human.
Welcome to one of the August 5th stops on the book blitz for An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda by Diana Raab with Goddess Fish Promotions! Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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About the Book
An Imaginary Affair
Poems Whispered to Neruda
by Diana Raab
Published 8 July 2022
Finishing Line Press
Genre: Poetry
Page Count: 38
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An Imaginary Affair is a collection of sensitive and sensuous poems for poets and non-poets who appreciate the challenges and intricacies of being human.
The poems touch on key human elements, such as love, desire, passion, memory, loss, and gratitude. The poet celebrates the joys, and pains inherent to a woman’s heart, while honoring the wisdoms and tones of Neruda’s poetry. Some of the epistolary poems are directed to Neruda in response to his riveting poems.
“In this intimate collection of poems, Diana Raab pays tribute to the sensual physicality of Pablo Neruda’s work and to her own real and invented lives. With unvarnished honesty, An Imaginary Affair celebrates a woman’s heart and mind through a handful of odes, epistolary poems, and the idea that memory and anticipation can sustain and nourish us; even drinking a glowing hot toddy is transformed into a meditation on how an ordinary act can awaken desire. Her unvarnished honesty gives equal attention to matters of mortality, where loss is lyrically considered (“…will you run from me / when trains sleep at their stations”), and also explored in the spirit of open curiosity (“How long does it take / for a pine casket to disintegrate / in this caving land…). These poems remind us that to be alive is to try and balance joy and lament, and how through this effort we more deeply inhabit the world and ourselves.”
–Emma Trelles, author of Tropicalia and Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Excerpt
Please Don’t Forget Me
I want you to know
one thing:
if there is ever a day
when you begin to think
about my place in this world
and if I could live without you —
stop in your tracks,
and look the imprints
your feet made in the sand
where you and I walked together
arm in arm, side by side
shoulder touching shoulder.
You are ingrained in my brain
like every kernel of sand
that lies beside the largest ocean
in this world where we inhabit
two sides familiar, yet foreign
to one another. But, in the end,
I had to let you go: when you love
someone it’s what one must do —
set them free to do what they need
or want, and when they want
to do it, whether it is with you or not—
while always keeping in mind
I will never in my lifetime or yours
stop loving everything about you.
About the Author
Diana Raab is an award-winning, memoirist, poet, blogger, inspirational speaker, and workshop facilitator. As the author of nine books of nonfiction and poetry, Raab teaches workshops on writing for healing and transformation, inspiring others to use creativity for healing and self-discoveries. Her 2 latest books are WRITING FOR BLISS: A SEVEN-STEP PLAN FOR TELLING YOUR STORY AND TRANSFORMING YOUR LIFE and WRITING FOR BLISS: A COMPANION JOURNAL, available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. Publisher’s Weekly says this about WRITING FOR BLISS: “This thoughtful and detailed primer…targets pretty much anyone interested in writing a memoir.”
Raab has written over 1000 articles and poems including her contributions to Psychology Today, Thrive Global, Wisdom Daily and many others. She has taught at UCLA Extension, the Santa Barbara’s Writer’s Conference, 1440 Multiversity, Hugo House and others.
Her forthcoming chapbook, An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda is written in response to his work.
Giveaway Alert!
Diana Raab will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveawayDisclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for hosting!
Congratulations on your release of An Imaginary Affair, Diana, I enjoyed following the blast and learning about your book, which sounds like an insightful and beautiful words! Good luck with your book and I hope the blast was a success! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a fantastic day!
Happy Friday! I love the cover, synopsis and excerpt, An Imaginary Affair sounds like a wonderful poetry collection and I am looking forward to reading them all. Thank you for sharing your bio and book details