Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You [Paperback]

Diana M. Raab (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2008

Diana M. Raab's Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You is not only a tribute to the late diarist, but also a tribute to diaries themselves. Each of the book's poems, culled from Raab's own journal, offers intimate portraitures, tiny memoirs in verse. Raab's poetry is seductive in its earnestness, appealing in its vulnerability, mystery, and enchantment.
Denise Duhamel, poet, author of Two and Two and Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems

Raab's skill is as a poet, but her passages are as intimate as a diary. She reconstructs her past mirroring Nin's emotional honesty. The reader never feels voyeuristic reading the intimate passages, but feels like a confidant, friend and maybe even a lover.
Steve Reigns, Nin scholar, poet, and editor of My Life is Poetry

In Diana Raab's "imaginary world.people drip with stories / and linger in bookstores and cafés / slurping foamy cappuccinos / and nibbling chocolate cake." And the poems in Dear Anaïs are, indeed, rife with both stories and the extravagantly various things of this world: Laundromats and writers' conferences, steel-tipped boots and champagne, patched jeans and paramedics, blueberries and autographed photos of Paul Newman. While the book does pay homage to Anaïs Nin-to her eroticism and wry humor and exquisite journals-it also vividly evoke's Raab's own life, particularly her family memories. Like Nin, Raab is indefatigable in her desire to commit one woman's life to paper.
David Starkey, author of Ways of Being Dead

Praise for Diana Raab's memoir Regina's Closet:

" Raab makes Regina's Closet a walk-in book, complete with recovered documents and packed with the sumptuous, minute, domestic, tormented and romantic details of one fully-lived life and another plucky life lived in answer to it."
Molly Peacock, poet, author of Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems

Editorial Reviews

Review

Diana M. Raab is a miracle worker with words.  Every piece she's sharing with us reflects intimacy and her personal memories. "Dear Anaïs" is not only her life in poems for herself, but for us, the reader, to put our lives into her words and reflect.  Poignant. --Irene Watson for Reader Views

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Plain View Press (August 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891386417
• ISBN-13: 978-1891386411
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,301,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since childhood, she has been fascinated with the written word. As an only child of working parents, she spent lots of time alone, which she filled with reading and writing in her journal. These hobbies set the platform for her life's passion as a poet, memoirist and essayist. She teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and in various conferences and festivals around the country. She frequently writes and lectures on the healing powers of writing.

Her award-winning poetry and memoirs have appeared widely in journals and anthologies. Her self-help memoir, HEALING WITH WORDS was released in June 2010. Her memoir REGINA'S CLOSET: FINDING MY GRANDMOTHER'S SECRET JOURNAL won the 2009 Mom's Choice Award for Adult Nonfiction and the 2008 Indie Excellence Award for Memoir.

She's the compiler and editor of WRITERS AND THEIR NOTEBOOKS a collection of essays written by esteemed writers who about their journal-keeping habits and how they use their journals as a source of inspiration. The book won the Eric Hoffer Award for University Presses (2011). The foreword is written by Phillip Lopate.

She has three poetry collections, DEAR ANAIS: MY LIFE IN POEMS FOR YOU, FOR YOU, winner of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Award For Poetry, MY MUSE UNDRESSES ME, and THE GUILT GENE.

For more information, please visit her website: http://www.dianaraab.com and blog www.dianaraab/blog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, November 13, 2008

By 

Bonjour Poetry Reviews - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You (Paperback)

Ana¿s Nin is perhaps the intended audience for Diana Raab's work, but her poetry can easily be slipped on to any reader like a much beloved cashmere sweater. In the beginning of Dear Ana¿s: My Life in Poems for You, the author writes a letter to the famous diarist. She explains her admirations this way, "for years, whenever I have been stuck or my pen negotiated its flow, I've turned to your diaries for inspiration." The letter ends with heartfelt appreciation: "You've taught me the intrinsic value of the written word, how to dig deeper into my emotional truth, and the importance of having love in my life. And for all these gifts, I thank you." As emotionally clear as this letter is, it is Raab's poems which are the real tribute.

The first chapter of Dear Ana¿s:, "Each Winter Sunday" contains the poems of childhood. Fond yet raw memories in works such "Rockefeller," and "Figure Skating," show us the poet's years as a young girl learning how to skate on ice. This subject reappears several times in the book, a wonderful parallel to the thought of navigating the realities of life.
Between the poems "Love Chains" and "Those Times" there is a dramatic change of tone from childhood to young adult. Dreamy thoughts of youth and talking about crushes on boys and gum wrappers are replaced with drugs and the avoidance of pain. Both of the poems are tied together with the mention of silver ID bracelets, a reminder that childhood is never really bar behind the arrogance of adolescence.

"Those Times" ends with a reminder of the present in the line "acne stricken face, like my daughter's now." The poem smiles upon the recklessness of the past but manages to ground itself into the adult world with simply that sentence, and with it, the reader is carefully directed to the next chapter.

The poem "To Dettner" (My Grandmother) talks of suicide, "I wonder why you left in such a way, as the depression gnawed at your gentle heart, which cared for me." But while the poem could take on the darkest of tones, it instead embraces the goodness of life. It ends with the sentiment of metaphorically living forever through poetry, and writing, and perhaps through the memory of someone who loved you so deeply.

Such is the case with "My Navigator," which the author dedicates to her Aunt Lilly. In six stanzas a complete characterization is told. We get a sense of the smells from a busy kitchen, the spark of spirit despite life's tragedies and hardship, and the willingness to move on without dwelling on whatever might have happened in the past.

The author shows her affection and admiration combined when she says, "I knew I wanted to grow old like you, proud shoulders pulled back, despite years in concentration camp and the loss of two adoring husbands."
The Chapter "Those Fine Strings" speaks from the experience of a first crush to the disappointment of a failed romance. From the buildup of expected sensual moments and the bust in not following through to the end. Rather than dive too deeply into introspection, the poet pulls herself out to a moment when she is shaken from the unchanged world of a steady relationship to the outward sexuality of a stranger who reminds her the she is a sexual person, and alive.

The poem "A Dictionary of Secret Lovers" is a lovely take on a relationship. Clever, from start to finish.

In "A Woman's Life" the poet uses a simple string of terms to describe women from baby to older adult to death. The list is not a smattering of random words, however, but rather a free form expression that picks up speed gradually, until before you know it, it is over. The perfect representation of how quickly our lives move and change.

One of the things I enjoyed about Dear Ana¿s: My Life in Poems for You was that it was not overly sentimental, but shared life's beauty in the simplest of moments. Even the poems about family members are not filled with grand gestures, but the unique and odd characteristics that make us feel affection toward our loved ones.

Reading Raab's work is like walking past a happy home on a summer evening. You can hear the sounds of life and see glimpses of a family that is like any other, and yet at the same time is delightfully unique.

5.0 out of 5 stars Female, honest, and colloquial, June 6, 2010

By 

Peter Michaels "Another poet from the Midwest" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You (Paperback)

This book won one of the self-published book awards last year. I wanted to read what the "competition" has to offer. I also have a book of poetry I want to enter in one of these contests. Well, I was not disappointed. The poet is not Christina Rossetti or Edna Milay. But, for the self-published, she is good. It was certainly worth the price. The best verse is below:
And I worry what will happen to my heart
When you decide to leave.

4.0 out of 5 stars Dear Anais, Journaling Poems, March 10, 2009

By 

S. Agusto-Cox "Savvy Verse & Wit" (Germantown, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You (Paperback)

I received Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You by Diana M. Raab from the author for review, I'm thrilled to say that Raab's use of language in a format that resembles diary entries is fantastic. The volume begins with a letter to Anaïs about how she inspired Raab through her journals, particularly Anaïs' entries about the house Eric Lloyd Wright built for her.

Each poem provides the reader with an insider's look at Raab's life and her interactions with family and others. Mirroring Anaïs Nin's style, Raab seeks to demonstrate how important love is to humanity and maintaining our connections to one another.

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