 |
I WORE THIS
DRESS TODAY FOR YOU, MOM
Beware Kim Dower’s poetry.
Again and again, this crafty writer invites you in for a
casual chat and then wallops you. Her poem “Game Over”
starts with a little comedy about squirting too much
mustard on her hotdog; next thing you know, she’s
wrestling with the existence of God. Her fantastic
new collection, “I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom,”
revolves around quotidian details of domestic life –
washing dishes, doing laundry – but existential
questions are always lurking beneath the surface. Her
most devastating poems are about caring for a mother
slipping into dementia. I read the collection last month
and had to put it aside. Coming back to it this week,
I’m wrung out all over again.
--
Washington Post
Featuring gorgeous gems from Dower's four poetry
collections and new pieces energized by the sheer power
of her wit and irreverent style, I Wore This Dress Today
for You, Mom will make readers both groan at and delight
in recognition of the everyday absurdities and magical
moments that add up to a lifetime of irreplaceable
memories.
-- Shelf Awareness
Kim Dower’s poetry has been described by the Los Angeles
Times as “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly
combining humor and heartache,” and by O Magazine as
“unexpected and sublime.” Acclaimed for combining the
accessible and profound, her poems about motherhood are
some of her most moving and disarmingly candid. I Wore
This Dress Today for You, Mom is an anthology of her
poems on being a mother—childbirth to empty nest—as well
as being a daughter with all the teenaged messiness,
drama and conflict, to finally caring for one’s mother
suffering from dementia. Culled from her four
collections as well as a selection of new work, these
poems, heartbreaking, funny, surprising, and touching,
explore the quirky, unexpected observations, and
bittersweet moments mothers and daughters share. These
evocative poems do not glorify mothers, but rather look
under the hood of motherhood and explore the deep
crevices and emotions of these impenetrable
relationships: the love, despair, joy, humor and
gratitude that fills our lives.
A
rich, complex, heartbreaking, and funny anthology of
poems on motherhood—being one and having one.
|
