Welcome to 2026 from Diana Raab, PhD - Poetry and More!

 

Dear Glenda, "The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written." ~ Melody Beattie Welcome to 2026! In the Chinese calendar, we are now transitioning from the Year of the Snake to the Year of the Horse. The Year of the Snake was a year of shedding, releasing, inner growth and subconscious healing. The year of the horse is about having clarity, freedom, breakthroughs and momentum. I am wishing you all good things during this transition. I have been reading and hearing a lot lately about how people are coming together and craving the collective. It feels like survival is in the collective. The past number of years many people have focused on self-care but now, many seem to be hungry for a sense of community. No doubt, this need was born after the end of the pandemic when we all had enough of isolation. Thus, I am excited to introduce a new Sacred Circle, a gathering of kindred spirits to discuss, support, share stories, and do some writing together. It will be an empowering gathering. If you are based in California, I hope to see you there. Please see the details below. Until we meet again, I wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year! https://www.dianaraab.com

WRITING PROMPTS! Write about your intentions for 2026. Write about what you want to let go of from 2025. Write a letter of gratitude to someone. A Fantasy by Diana Raab ​Tomorrow my seventh decades knocks as I ponder how I arrived here— the stories and people who’ve crossed my path. I stop for a minute and decide what change to bring forth and for me, it’s not to be flappable about anything; to expect the unexpected, whether it’s cancer or a car driving too fast or someone who abhors my life mission. I will not whimper, brew anger or gossip. I will not contradict, but choose to listen and be the elder who slows down time. I will be the one who gets down on the floor to build Lego towers with grandchildren like my father before he took his last breath at 70, even before I got to tell him I loved him. But now, I don’t wait to tell my loved ones because in this life we never know the shadows which arrive tomorrow. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED Hare’s Paw, November 2025,Issue #25    BEFORE WE MEET AT OUR HOUSE  I get this explosion of enthusiasm an oozing of sensual adrenaline, excitement, thrills, and appetites wet— as my palpitations become audible and my nervous system searches for a break in its fired neurons. I flip my body around to notice your arrival in the mirror of my mind and during the next few hours it all passes in such slow motion as I watch your every move and listen to each synchronistic whisper when suddenly without the earth’s warning, your visit evaporates like the steam from my morning kettle into an untouchable and nearly forgettable ether. I slip around and wonder if your visit was merely a dream when the phone rings, and your ghost appears across oceans as silence ensues and normalcy chooses to follow suit. Previously Published Moonflake Press December 2025 IF I HAD CARROTS ON SUNDAY  by Diana Raab I would fill my bucket with these fine orange sticks, find a stable or a field of free-running horses in wintertime,  I would find snowmen never before given noses, make holes with my fist into the middle of their faces and jam in the orange stick and give them the right to breathe the fresh air we all crave  And  If that does not enlighten I will find some seeing-eye dogs whose masters have eye problems and I will purée some carrots and stuff their mouths full of the orange goop until they see me making faces at them That's what I will do if I had carrots on Sunday  Sure beats going to church on Sunday, doesn't it? Previously Posted Beach Chair Press Dec 21, 2025 The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science & Poetry by Maria Popova (poetry/science) For many years, I have been subscribing to Maria Popova's newsletter, The Marginalian. I admire her love of literature, writers, philosophy and her fascination with the human condition. Her articles and musings have always kept my interest, so when this book her new book was released, I could not resist buying it! As she mentions in the book's introduction: "Poetry and science—individually, but especially together—are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." She goes on to explain how we all need them both—in combination, they bring forth the concept of wonder. The essays, in addition to poetry, take us on a journey of scientific discovery and bring us face to face with the poets who have been and continue to be inspired by poetry. These days when darkness seems to prevail in many people's lives; it is a delight to read a book so very full of wonder! I believe we all need to be in awe and wonder more often! Find your Wonder through books, nature, and so much more! Diana Raab has much more available to you... Check out her site and sign up for the complete newsletter... God Bless Gabby