BOOKS - AIR KISSING ON MARS
“(Kim
Dower's) work is exquisitely crafted but the tool marks
are invisible on the printed page, and each poem reads
like an intimate conversation with the poet
herself--bright and lucid, funny and sharp, and always
full of life.”
—Jonathan
Kirsch, Jewish Journal
Kim Dower's collection of
71 poems is a sensual and rhapsodic journey through
emotional landscapes sweeping everyday life. Playful,
intelligent, funny, edgy, engaging—sometimes biting,
ironic and dark, sometimes dreamy and surreal, full of
poignancy and arresting metaphors, the daily, simple
occurrences in Air Kissing On Mars startle and provoke,
while stirring up the fairy dust and turbulent weight of
memory; evoking the possibilities and gorgeous chaos of
life. Open and inviting, these poems draw the reader
into a world seen upside down, inside out, a sideways
bird reporting on a universe filled with mystery and
passion. Joan Didion meets Tinkerbell, Kim Dower’s poems
are as whimsical and light as they are rich and intense.
Simultaneously humorous and profound these passionate
and personal poems, relatable to all, are drenched with
vivid imagery, and sparkle with surprise.
Lost languages, disappearing mailboxes, locomotives
pummeling through dreams, taxi drivers thrown by the
earth’s rotation, shadows in closets, vanishing carrots,
men who exfoliate—all manner of haunting evocations come
together in this opus of shining and startling wisdom
Read a selection of poems from AIR
KISSING ON MARS here.
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REVIEWS
"Sensual
and evocative, these poems traverse the chaos of
everyday life with a light touch that can turn ironic
and edgy without you even noticing it. Some are lyrical
snapshots of life's bittersweet moments, while others
seamlessly combine humor and heartache."
—LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Air Kissing on Mars,"
showcases Kim Dower's funny, accessible, sneaky-profound
poetry. She's more Billy Collins than John Ashbery and
has some of the same sharp Southern California
perspective as Joan Didion, driving down the freeway in
"The White Album."
—OREGONIAN
“Sometimes miracles
happen: a gifted, already accomplished young poet puts
away her poems for years, even decades, and then the
poems begin to pour forth again—tumultuous, wild with
poetry’s particular fever (the Russians call it
Nightingale Fever). But, but, sometimes—tempered by a
rich inner life, fed by wisdom and knowledge one gets
walking up and down upon the earth with all of one’s
senses fully alert, tempered by years of caring for
others—sometimes, this fever can turn into art, as it
has here, in poem after poem. This combination: a crazy
young poet and a grown-up (still a little bit crazy)
poet makes a rare and astonishing first book, which is
more like a seventh or eight book! As aforementioned:
it’s a kind of miracle, I tell you, a kind of miracle!”
—Thomas Lux
“Kim Dower’s poetry is absolutely charming and
compelling. She combines humor and heartbreak, while
exploring the personal and universal. Her poems are both
accessible and profound. What I love most is that the
poet herself is so present in her images and emotions.
What a big, beautiful, generous, and funny heart she
has!”
—Lisa See
“Kim Dower writes
jazzy, sassy, sexy poems that move fast, are full of
surprise and tweak the heartstrings like Arkhipovsky
tweaks the balalaika.”
—Stephen Dobyns
"Air
Kissing on Mars is the real thing--a real book by a real
poet."
—Erica Jong
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