"The Guilt Gene" by Diana M. Raab

"The Guilt Gene" by Diana M. Raab is an unusual collection of poems. It is about the poet's youth, mistakes, middle-age life, aging, love, and ordinary occurrences. The poems range in length, with some paragraphs thrown in. Most are written in free verse. The odd scenarios that the poem writes of makes the reader wonder if the poet is truly "something else" or if various events were made up for literary purposes. Also, one would think the publication of this book would cause angst between the poet and close family / friends when the poet discusses problems in her marriage as well as embarrassing childhood events. The tone of most of the poems is quite satirical and mostly cynical. Readers may be depressed with this book, while others may take it as daringly whimsical. Either way, this book of poetry is highly existential for lack of a nicer euphemism.