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An Imaginary Affair: Poems Whispered to Neruda
by Diana Raab

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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

5 out of 5

This was a wonderful poetry collection that evokes some great imagery. This collection really takes you on a journey from start to finish, and I felt like I was getting a peek inside Raab’s mind. Each poem clearly had an emotion tied into it, ones that almost all will experience if they live long enough. I would definitely love to read more poetry by her in the future, as I enjoy her style quite a bit.

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.

Amazon | Fishing Line Press | Goodreads

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.

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