What She Wants
Following the commercial and literary success of her bestselling poetry collection, I Wore This Dress Today for You, Mom: Poems on Motherhood,Kim Dower delivers What She Wants: Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair, Euphoria—turning her keen eye, vibrant imagination, trademark insight, and humor to the intensity of obsessive love. These steamy and provocative poems, combining humor and heartache, run through the four phases of Limerence, the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person: Infatuation, Crystallization, Deterioration, and Ecstatic Release. From the opening poem, “She’ll do anything for food,” to the sexy title poem, “What She Wants,” the painfully funny, “His Other Girlfriend,” to the longing in “Visiting Baudelaire,” and the sad, sweet final poem, “Fish’s Lament,” Kim Dower captures the essence of what it means to be stuck on someone—even on a squirrel! Her eclectic, growing readership will savor these poems that can be read in one sitting, like a story with an arc, or separately, each one recalling the moment of falling in or out of love, the moment our hearts skipped a beat.
Casebound: $19.95
Praise for What She Wants
“What She Wants by Kim Dower is a witty, sultry, and thoughtful new collection.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post
“Desires, both feral and mundane, are slung across these pages in a crescendo of sexual longing and urgent vitality. There’s something gleeful in the undercurrent of darkness that runs through these verses.”—Amanda Youngman, Store Manager, Barnes & Noble at The Grove
“Psychologically astute and playfully resolute at evoking the irrevocable desire for love, attraction, seduction, and yes, companionship, What She Wants belongs on every bookshelf: not just for poetry lovers. But the poetry is there, singing its echoing delight through the lines, like desire itself, and enticing, resolving, and picturing the myriad ways we are compelled by desire and all its fruits.” —John Evans, Diesel Bookstore
“Kim Dower captures the timeless art of storytelling through verse with raw and unfiltered emotions, lyrical language, and vivid imagery. With every turn of the page, readers will find themselves drawn deeper into a world where words hold the power to inspire, delight, and transform.”—Julie Slavinsky, Director of Events, Warwick’s Bookstore
“From whispered secrets to consuming obsessions, these poems unveil the complexities of love, longing, and the urgency that prods us to pursue the objects of one’s desire.”—Luisa Smith, Buying Director, Book Passage Bookstore
Kim Dower’s Poetry is:
“Unexpected and sublime.” —O Magazine
“Sensual and evocative . . . seamlessly combines humor and heartache.” —The Los Angeles Times
“A dark chocolate fever dream of love. Kim Dower dares you into the dark.” —Erica Jong
“A kind of miracle . . .” —Thomas Lux
”Bold and sexy and smart.” —Stephen Dunn
“A moving blend of sexual experimentation and loss.” —Library Journal
“Absolutely charming and compelling, accessible and profound, combining humor and heartbreak, while exploring the personal and universal.” —Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author
“Like the voice of an old, trusted friend who knows you, who has come to visit and remind you of who you are and what a life is all about. Poems that speak not of the highs and lows, but about the grey space between tragedy and tenderness, memory and loss, fragility and perseverance—that space where the soul and the truest self live.” —Richard Blanco, Presidential Inaugural Poet
