April is National Poetry month, which has been in existence since 1996. In honor of the month-long celebration, I would like to mention my new collection of poems released this month, LISTENING TO AFRICA (Antrim House).
This book was inspired by a family trip to Africa in 2008. It was my first, but probably not my last trip to Africa, and in more ways than one, it was a life-changing experience. We were there for three weeks and visited Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
During my travels, I typically keep a journal, and this trip was no exception. By the end of the safari, I had accumulated 62 pages of typed text, which also included an array of poems. After returning home, I transformed some text into poems and thus the birth of a new poetry collection.
First I would like to share some tidbits about the African continent that I learned before our departure:
• Africa is the second largest and second most populated continent.
• Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas.
• The climate ranges from tropical to sub arctic.
• The northern part is mainly dessert; central and southern areas consist of savannas and very dense jungles or rainforests.
• Animals found in Africa consist of both herbivores (deer, antelope, giraffes, buffalo) and carnivores (lions, cheetah, hyenas) and omnivores.
• Africa is one of the world’s poorest and most underdeveloped continents mainly because of tropical diseases, corrupt governments and international trade regimes.
• There are more than 1000 languages spoken in Africa.
Here is information from the back cover of LISTENING TO AFRICA:
In her quest for health of mind and body, Diana Raab travels to the heart of Africa with her family, experiencing the beauty of another world and the distress but also the delight and dignity of those, both human and animal, living in difficult conditions. She has recorded her observations in Listening to Africa, a collection of poems welcomed gratefully by early readers.
Susan Wooldridge, the author of poemcrazy: freeing your life with words, has written that “Diana M. Raab makes a pilgrimage from the ‘familiar neon of home’ in America to Africa, bringing her family, her passion and her pen. Her moving words carry us with her in narrative poems replete with vision, humor and irony. In her inner and outer journey, the poet transforms fear and sadness into beauty and love as her heart opens ‘in this place which will remind you of your reason for living.’
And finally, a sample poem:
48-Hour Travel
Should you decide
to take a safari here
you might want to consider
packing some meager comforts of home,
even though they will do little
to protect you from
its haunting newness.
But still, take a two-day supply of patience,
ear plugs, sleeping pills, a few good books,
a thick journal and a pound of prevention,
the comprehensive pill bag
with compartments for each ail.
If you plan on foreign intimacy,
don’t rely on public bathrooms
to supply your protection—
be prepared with your own custom size.
For game rides, snatch volumes
of insect repellant and sunscreen
and a wrinkled ribbed hat,
to shield your neck
from the last blow
of the jungle’s sunset.
____________________________
You can order the book from the publisher, http://antrimhousebooks.com/raab.html
OR
from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Listening-Africa-Diana-M-Raab/dp/1936482185
In either case if you email me I would be happy to send you a personalized book plate.
Happy reading!
Diana


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