Kim
Dower’s first collection, Air Kissing on Mars was
published by Red Hen Press in 2010 and appeared on the
Poetry Foundation’s Contemporary Best Sellers list. The
Los Angeles Times described it as, “sensual and
evocative lyrical snapshots of life’s bittersweet
moments, seamlessly combining humor and heartache.”
In her second collection, Slice of Moon, Kim
Dower retains her whimsical style while reaching deeper
inside what it means to be human -- writing of love,
longing, motherhood, vulnerability, death -- with the
same humor and accessibility of her earlier work, but
with greater lyrical intensity, irony, poignancy. The
collection is a rainbow rope of entwined emotional
fibers, each one a different expression: funny, sad,
angry, loving, strong, fearful, sexy, and Kim Dower
weaves these colors beautifully to create Slice of Moon,
a book that resonates with honesty and the complexities
of life.
Losing
ones mother in Bloomingdales, the pleasures of corned
beef, the power of bottled water, fear of freeways, hot
springs, boob jobs, secrets in hotel rooms, dolphins
sleeping with one eye open, wolves in garter belts, the
strange lights next door, the people in the health food
store who don’t look healthy; Slice of Moon is
simultaneously funny and profound, universal and
personal, and examines a life well-lived. Drenched in
vivid imagery, sparkling with surprise, each poem
reminds us that our lives are filled with desire and
mystery.
Read a selection of poems from
SLICE OF MOON here.
Kim reads poems from SLICE OF
MOON here.
|
REVIEWS
“Dower (Air Kissing on Mars)
returns after a break from publishing with these mostly narrative
poems that mine detail with a whimsy bordering on hysteria. In this
collection, the speaker manages to squirt too much mustard on her
hotdog, have a huge tooth pulled (‘extracting my brain, forcing
every thought/ I ever had out of my head’), and buy an iPhone with
an app that lets users go back to pioneer life in 1872 (‘my girls
tug at my berry-stained apron—mom, let’s bake—in my real world I
didn’t bake/ but with this app I can’). She tells us what a
boyfriend likes in bed (‘my other girlfriend lets me’) and why a
girlfriend prefers sex with skinny guys. But a serious thread runs
through these poems: caring for a mother who has dementia. And
tucked in also are quiet poems from another place—a short lyric
about the Santa Ana wind with a tender ending and a vivid
recollection of a now deceased high school boyfriend, a moving blend
of sexual experimentation and loss.”
-- Library Journal"
The poems
are bold and sexy and smart."
-- Stephen Dunn
"Slice of Moon is a dark chocolate fever dream of love,
of mothers. Kim Dower dares you into the dark. You may
find yourself lurking there."
-- Erica
Jong
“Kim Dower’s remarkable first book, Air Kissing on Mars,
was on fire. Slice of Moon burns even hotter, its flames
rising even higher.”
-- Thomas Lux
|