Kim Dower
Author Interview - Kim Dower
Author of I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom
This collection is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and funny anthology of poems on motherhood -- being one and having one
Author Interview - Kim Dower
Author I draw inspiration from:
So many poets inspire me: Frank O'Hara, Sharon Olds, Thomas Lux, Ellen Bass, Richard Blanco, Ron Padgett, so many others
Author Interview - Kim Dower | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
In bed
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Madame Bovary - I'd talk her out of taking the poison.
Author Interview - Kim Dower | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
When my dolls started to applaud after I read to them.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I've never listened to an audiobook though friends say I'd love it. I cannot read an ebook. I need to hold a book in my hands. I like both hardbacks and paperbacks.
The last book I read:
Story of a Poem, a Memoir by Matthew Zapruder. I loved it. Loved its honesty, imagery, surprises, heart.
Author Interview - Kim Dower | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I use pen/pencil and paper as well as computer to get my first drafts out. Each serves a different purpose. Handwriting my first draft feels more personal and I feel immediately closer and connected to the poem. I tend to do more "automatic" writing when it's by hand and on the computer I tend to edit as I write which is not the best idea. But getting ideas and lines out on the computer is much quicker. My mind moves fast when I'm typing and slower when I'm writing. Not sure which results are better. I always have paper and pen with me in case an idea pops up, and I also use my phone to dictate a first draft. When the idea comes I'll try to get it out - however I can!
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
The first character I wanted to be friends with was Nancy Drew. I was ten. and wanted to be her best friend. All those adventures. What a life she had. A secret life.
Author Interview - Kim Dower | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
I've always had another career while being a poet and teacher. I'll have to reverse your question and say if I didn't have another career my dream would be to ONLY be a poet and teacher.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
oh, the '60s to be sure! That first pair of bell bottoms. Mini skirts. When it was all brand new. Fashion was magical.
Place I’d most like to travel:
Italy. The food. The people. Everything. I'd say France, but I've been there. I've never been to Italy.
My signature drink:
Vodka, soda, and a splash of grapefruit juice. Lots of ice.
Favorite artist:
Impossible to have a favorite.
Number one on my bucket list:
I'd love to try not having to earn a living. Waking up every day with nothing I had to do and see what might happen.
Anything else you'd like to add:
I'd love to go to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC with Frank O'Hara and listen to him tell me about art and poetry. Then help Emily Dickinson tend to her garden. Later in the day go to Paris and have dinner with Baudelaire.
Find more from the author:
www.kimdowerpoetry.com
@kimdowerpoetry
Author Bio:
Kim Dower was City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood from 2016 – 2018. Author of five collections of poetry: Air Kissing on Mars, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache,” (Los Angeles Times), Slice of Moon, “unexpected and sublime,” (“O” Magazine), Last Train to the Missing Planet, “poems that speak about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness, memory and loss, fragility and perseverance,” (Inaugural Poet, Richard Blanco), the Gold Ippy Award winning, Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave, and her latest, I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom, “A fantastic collection.” (Washington Post). Dower’s poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac” as well as in many journals and anthologies. She teaches poetry workshops for Antioch University, UCLA Extension, West Hollywood Library, and the Hollywood LGBT Senior Center. www.kimdowerpoetry.com. Her next collection, What She Wants: Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair, Euphoria will be published by Red Hen Press in February, 2025.
