“(Kim Dower's) work is exquisitely crafted but the tool marks are invisible on the printed page, and each poem reads like an intimate conversation with the poet herself--bright and lucid, funny and sharp, and always full of life.” —Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal

Kim Dower's collection of 71 poems is a sensual and rhapsodic journey through emotional landscapes sweeping everyday life. Playful, intelligent, funny, edgy, engaging—sometimes biting, ironic and dark, sometimes dreamy and surreal, full of poignancy and arresting metaphors, the daily, simple occurrences in Air Kissing On Mars startle and provoke, while stirring up the fairy dust and turbulent weight of memory; evoking the possibilities and gorgeous chaos of life. Open and inviting, these poems draw the reader into a world seen upside down, inside out, a sideways bird reporting on a universe filled with mystery and passion. Joan Didion meets Tinkerbell, Kim Dower’s poems are as whimsical and light as they are rich and intense. Simultaneously humorous and profound these passionate and personal poems, relatable to all, are drenched with vivid imagery, and sparkle with surprise.

Lost languages, disappearing mailboxes, locomotives pummeling through dreams, taxi drivers thrown by the earth’s rotation, shadows in closets, vanishing carrots, men who exfoliate—all manner of haunting evocations come together in this opus of shining and startling wisdom.

Praise for Air Kissing on Mars

"Sensual and evocative, these poems traverse the chaos of everyday life with a light touch that can turn ironic and edgy without you even noticing it. Some are lyrical snapshots of life's bittersweet moments, while others seamlessly combine humor and heartache."
—LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Air Kissing on Mars," showcases Kim Dower's funny, accessible, sneaky-profound poetry. She's more Billy Collins than John Ashbery and has some of the same sharp Southern California perspective as Joan Didion, driving down the freeway in "The White Album."
—OREGONIAN

“Sometimes miracles happen: a gifted, already accomplished young poet puts away her poems for years, even decades, and then the poems begin to pour forth again—tumultuous, wild with poetry’s particular fever (the Russians call it Nightingale Fever). But, but, sometimes—tempered by a rich inner life, fed by wisdom and knowledge one gets walking up and down upon the earth with all of one’s senses fully alert, tempered by years of caring for others—sometimes, this fever can turn into art, as it has here, in poem after poem. This combination: a crazy young poet and a grown-up (still a little bit crazy) poet makes a rare and astonishing first book, which is more like a seventh or eight book! As aforementioned: it’s a kind of miracle, I tell you, a kind of miracle!”
—Thomas Lux

“Kim Dower’s poetry is absolutely charming and compelling. She combines humor and heartbreak, while exploring the personal and universal. Her poems are both accessible and profound. What I love most is that the poet herself is so present in her images and emotions. What a big, beautiful, generous, and funny heart she has!”
—Lisa See

“Kim Dower writes jazzy, sassy, sexy poems that move fast, are full of surprise and tweak the heartstrings like Arkhipovsky tweaks the balalaika.”
—Stephen Dobyns

"Air Kissing on Mars is the real thing--a real book by a real poet."
—Erica Jong