Book Blast and Giveaway - An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda by Diana Raab

Welcome to my stop on the book blast for An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda by Diana Raab. This book blast was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book. There's also the blast wide giveaway for a chance to win a $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other blogs participating in the book blast for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda

Author: Diana Raab

Publisher: Finishing Line Press

Publication Date: July 8th 2022

Print Length: 38 pages

Genre: Poetry

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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

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EXCERPT:

My Heart Broke Loose with the Wind

My Heart Broke Loose With the Wind

On the pages of a Khalil Gibran journal

my voice was freed—the wind squalled

through my brain beaten

down by words, abusive.

Such liberation possessed me wholly.

His revelation bloomed,

so unlike my mother’s mutterings

as she drifted in and out of madness.

My lines, at ten, engendered

many other poems holding and healing

me—once so deeply shattered.

Those words now yearning for the divine

just like the prophet Khalil Gibran.

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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 chapbook, An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda is written in response to his work.

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GIVEAWAY:

Diana Raab will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions and the author assume all responsibility over this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway