LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with poet and book publicist Kim Dower, who has worked with authors from Kristin Hannah to Paolo Coelho through her freelance literary publicity company, Kim-from-L.A. The City Poet Laureate of West Hollywood from October 2016 – October 2018, she is the author of five previous collections of poetry, including the bestselling I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom (2022), which was praised by The Washington Post as a “fantastic collection.” Her first collection, Air Kissing on Mars (2010), was praised by the Los Angeles Times as “sensual and evocative… seamlessly combining humor and heartache.” Her work has appeared in literary publications such as Plume, Ploughshares, Rattle, The James Dickey Review, and Garrison Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac.” Her newest book, What She Wants: Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair, Euphoria, will be published later this month by Red Hen Press. Dower sat down with Abigail to answer some questions about her work, and this new book.
What She Wants is your sixth poetry collection, and addresses the theme of obsessive love. What was the inspiration behind the book? Did it begin with a specific poem, a personal experience you wanted to explore, or something else?
I was reading an article (can’t remember where!) and came upon the word “Limerence.” I thought it was a beautiful sounding word, and it’s meaning, the state of being obsessively infatuated with someone, usually accompanied by delusions of or a desire for an intense romantic relationship with that person, fascinated me! I became obsessed with a word that meant to be obsessed! I realized I had many finished poems and many in the works that fit into this category, so I built a collection based on this idea and the four stages of limerence: infatuation, crystallization, deterioration and ecstatic release.
What makes poetry unique, as a form of literary expression? Is it just the structure that makes it different from prose, or does it communicate in different ways?
Because poetry is the most concise form of language, good poems will stir our emotions with a clarity and intensity that immediately takes hold in the reader. There’s an emotional honesty in poems that connects poet to reader to create a shared experience. It has been said that prose is like walking and poetry is like dancing. A single, short poem has the power to simultaneously comfort and terrify. The poet W.H. Auden says, “poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings,” and this is true for the poet as she writes and the reader as well.
Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process? How does a poet begin a poem?
I don’t know how all poets begin a poem, but I begin one after being stirred or moved by something, something personal or something I’ve read or overheard. Or something I think is funny. I often read a news headline or hear something on the radio as I’m driving that immediately says THIS IS A POEM! I was once driving, listening to the local news, and the headline, talking about a new public school decision was, “They’re Taking Chocolate Milk Off the Menu!” I pulled over and wrote a poem with that title. Later, after it was published, Garrison Keillor read it on “The Writer’s Almanac.” Poems are everywhere and I use everything I see and hear as a prompt – whether it’s something whimsical that strikes me, or something more profound like hearing a dead parent speak to me.
How has working with so many different authors, through your activities as a publicist, affected your writing?
The only way working hard at a “day” job has affected my writing is I’m very focused when I sit down to write. I’ve learned how to separate the two kinds of work and my brain and mind like knowing and appreciate the difference!
You were Poet Laureate of the city of West Hollywood for two years. What sort of things did you do as a poet laureate?
It was so much fun creating different activities, readings and events and introducing people to poetry who otherwise never thought about it. My favorite project was creating a collaborative poem with people in the city. The City of West Hollywood is committed to the arts and supported all of my ideas. We designed a large pad with three prompts and I spent a few months asking strangers at local bookstores, cafes, parks, to participate in reading a prompt and writing some lines. People really enjoyed it and I created a powerful poem consisting of all their lines called, “I Sing the Body West Hollywood.” We made posters. We celebrated!
Who are some of your favorite poets, and how has their work influenced your own?
I have so many favorites and so many whose work has influenced my own. More than influence – whose work has given me permission to build my own voice. I love Frank O’Hara – New York School of Poets – who’s influenced my “conversational” often breezy style while still packing a punch! William Carlos Williams, whose poetry has taught me to strive to make each poem a “fine machine.” Erica Jong, Sharon Olds and Kim Addonizio, for their passion, beauty, perceptions; Thomas Lux, Ron Padgett, Stephen Dunn, for humor mixed with deep emotion and insight. W.H. Auden for his style. This list could go on and on.
Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?
I have hundreds and hundreds of books! I love all kinds of fiction, biographies, memoir, but upstairs, in my “Poetry Palace” I have only poetry – books I’ve kept and carried for 50 years – from college through today. I have a marvelous collection from Shakespeare to contemporary poets. Occasionally, just to calm myself, I will sit on the floor and take a random book off the shelf, read one or two poems, and place it back. This morning, for example, it was Diane di Prima’s book, The Poetry Deal. I read from it aloud. Now I can go on with my day.
What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?
I’m re-reading Vivian Gornick’s amazing, gorgeous memoir, Fierce Attachments, about her relationship with her mother. It’s a classic and each time I read it I discover something else – not only about her – but about myself.
I’m also re-reading Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St Vincent Millay, a great poet and a fascinating star of poetry.
My poet friend, Nina Clements – who was also a Librarian – sent me a book called Monsters by Claire Dederer, which I’m enjoying, about the link between genius and monstrosity. How do we balance our love of some artists knowing the awful things they’ve done. This is a subject that constantly fascinates me.
And I’m slowly reading and loving the poems in Kim Addonizio’s new collection, Exit Opera.
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