"I open myself to you
like a lily when daylight arrives
and closes up when night springs forth."
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Lust by Diana Raab CW Books
book review by Omar Figueras
Diana Raab's latest poetry collection, Lust, is steamy, seductive, and enthralling, and it underscores how sex is basically psychological. Some of the language goes beyond the erotic and well into the scandalous, making the reader, much like the speaker in her collection, desire and long for more. Contemplative of amorous reciprocation, or lack thereof, Raab examines the hidden, secret spaces of a sometimes fulfilled, sometimes jilted lover who wishes nothing but time with her beloved. The quiet, reserved, and at times non-responsive partner gauges the speaker's psyche, imposes limits on physical and psychological thresholds, and restricts the speaker to her thoughts, guesses and suppositions about their sex life, and overall relationship in general.
The author presents her work in a series of confessional, deeply personal, spiritual, and unafraid to dissect her speaker's intentions, emotions, desires and fears. Raab has an unflinching eye for detail, however uncomfortable the speaker may be in acknowledging her truths to her audience, and in turn, herself.
The author's writing style is varied throughout her collection, at times detached and analytical, at other times intimate and emotional, running the gamut of what a lover feels when her partner does not reveal himself in toto. When the speaker is charged with worry, doubt, and concern, Raab's writing style becomes choppy, fragmented, and loose, just as a worried lover would react to perceived insensitivity from her partner. When the author's choice of language is cool and collected, focused, and precise, one can tell the speaker is standing at an advantageous position regarding her disadvantageous romantic and sexual situation.
Raab's exploration of sexuality, its psychology, and the dynamic between two lovers, or lack thereof, artistically and sensuously reaffirms the old adage that sex happens between the ears as well as between the legs.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review