Happy April : National Poetry Month!! 💜

Greetings!

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."

~ Robert Frost

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Happy National Poetry Month! I'm so excited because I love all the talk about poetry during this month about our own poetry, our friends' poetry, and how to entice people into reading poetry. I am also excited to announce my forthcoming chapbook, AN IMAGINARY AFFAIR: POEMS WHISPERED TO NERUDA. For as long as I can remember, I've been in love with the work of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, especially his love poetry. He has inspired much of my own work. Each poem in this new collection is in response to one of his poems. In the poetry world, we call these "after" poems. It was such a pleasure to work on this collection, the idea of which came to me during one of my healing journeys. Please pre-order, as it will affect my royalties and also the print run. Click here to order.

I had two poems published last month. "Ambush," which is about my nephew who went to war, and "Message to My Grandchildren," which addresses the legacy of grandmothers and the importance of understanding our ancestors. Many of my readers know what a wonderful relationship I had with my own grandmother and that as much as I can, I try to foster wonderful relationships with all five of my grandchildren. Distance sometimes presents a problem, but there's always a way to connect. Every day our world becomes smaller and smaller and we feel more and more interconnected.

As we just celebrated National Women's History month, you might be interested in my article in Psychology Today about women fostering healing and hope. Check it out and see what you can learn about those women. Maybe you are one, too. I hope that I am!

Love and light,

dinaraab.com

Pre-Order my Poetry Chapbook

My new chapbook, AN IMAGINARY AFFAIR: POEMS WHISPERED TO NERUDA is now available for pre-order.

(pub date: July 2022)

$14.99

REVIEW

"Written in response to lines by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, these poems have a daring directness and vulnerability...the poems explore the beginnings-and inevitable endings-of attraction with a tender and elemental honesty."

~ Sue William Silverman, author of If the Girl Never Learns

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"...this book is more than a conversation with Neruda's poems. In this book, Diana Raab unveils trauma, desire, her life experience, and her passionate, non-imaginary affair with poetry."

~ Mariano Zaro, author of Decoding Sparrows

To order: click here

APRIL Writing Prompts

To honor National Poetry month, write about the first time you were introduced to poetry.
Write a poem called, "I remember."
Write about your favorite poet and why you like him or her.

Events

June 28, 2022

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. E.S.T.

“Writing for Bliss: Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life”

Bridgman Public Library

Bridgman, MI

via Zoom

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June 30, 2022

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. E.S.T

“Writing Your Memoir: How To Get Started”

Cass District Library

Edwardsburg, MI

via Zoom

Newly Published Works

"Five Ways to Find Focus." (article) The Good Men Project. February 24, 2022.

"Message to My Grandchildren." (poem) Beautiful: In the Eye of the Beholder. Sweetycat Press. February 2022.

"Self-Awareness is Sexy." (article) The Good Men Project. March 3, 2022.

“What Can a Kiss Tell You About Someone’s Sexuality?” (article). The Good Men Project. March 10, 2022.

"What Death Teaches Us About Living." (article). The Good Men Project. March 17, 2022.

"Are You A Woman Who Fosters Healing and Hope? (article) Psychology Today. March 18, 2022.

"What Can Secrets and Confessions Reveal? (article). The Good Men Project. March 24, 2022.

“Ambush.” (poem) Black Coffee Review. Spring 2022.

Celebrate National Poetry Month Recommended Book

My Life With Pablo Neruda by Matilde Urrutia (memoir)

While this is not a new book, it's a which in a large way inspired me to create my poetry chapbook, AN IMAGINARY AFFAIR. Neruda's poems have moved me during so many times in my life, his passion and love for being in love leave the reader awestruck.

We have a chance in this book to get inside the heart and soul of Urrutia who was Neruda's lover, muse, wife, and eventually his widow. While the political climate of Chile often made their life challenging, in reading this book, the reader gets a sense of what it's like to spend time with Neruda, an experience I certainly would have loved to have.

Urrutia has been described as having a Bohemian streak. In talking about Neruda, she says, "Pablo was a chronicler of his era. Everything he experienced, in one way or another, ended up documented in his poetry. When I read his poetry, she adds, I remember parts of our life that I had forgotten. But the thing that really stands out in his work—because of his great devotion to its Chile." (p. 274). She went on to say how much she admired his spirit of mischief-making and joking, even during his most solemn and significant life moments. This is certainly an art we can all learn from.