Poet Kim Dower, author of WHAT SHE WANTS
A book publicist by day, a poet 24/7
Kim Dower is the author of six collections of poetry all from Red Hen Press. I Wore This Dress Today for You, Momwas an Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist and The Washington Post called it a “fantastic collection” and Shelf-Awarenesssaid, “These gorgeous gems are energized by the sheer power of her wit and irreverent style.” Air Kissing on Mars, Kim’s first collection, was described by the Los Angeles Times as, “sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combining humor and heartache.” Sunbathing on Tyrone Power’s Grave, won the 2020 Independent Publishers Book Award Gold Medal for Poetry. She teaches poetry workshops for Antioch University, UCLA Extension Writer’s Program, and the West Hollywood Library. Her new collection is What She Wants, just out. Learn more about Kim here.
What’s the best writing advice you were ever given?
Poetry is music so you must read your poem aloud to hear how’s sounds. Record yourself reading a poem and listen, You will always hear exactly what needs to be changed.
What’s the worst?
That you must write at prescribed times in the day (rather than when an idea or line hits you which is throughout the day!)
How far will you read before you stop or do you finish every book you begin?
If a poem doesn’t grab me by it’s title and the first two or three lines I stop.
If a novel doesn’t grab me in the first 50 pages I stop.
When you begin a draft, does it go straight onto the computer or do you start with a pen or pencil, or typewriter, or…..
Always different
What do you do when you hit a wall?
Put the poem away and look at it again in a week or so.
Start a new one.
What are you currently obsessed with?
Rereading all of Stephen Dunn’s poems. I love them but each time I read one I see something different - a new meaning.
What is a question no one asks that you wish they would? Ask and answer it.
Why do you love to read poetry and why do you love to write it?
A great poem, even a really good poem, can be 5 or 10 or 15 lines, takes 5 minutes to slowly read aloud and can change your life.
It can definitely change the way you see the world and yourself. Writing one or reading one.
Listen to my interview with Kim here. More interviews with Kim on Writers on Writing are here.