Overview

A heartfelt collection that tumbles through a life of love in all its iterations. In this collection of poems, curves in all their forms—a woman's full hips, a rolling mountain, water's soft bend, or the thrum of Irish immigrants living at the hard edges—are the focus. In their music, these poems celebrate queer love, map loss and liberation, and explore lovers' scars and the knot of kinship that remains even when love fades. Tragic and tender, The Curve of Things traces the ecstatic joys and difficulties of loving women, celebrating this sweeping terrain of desire. A hymn of unapologetic intimacy and delicate language, these poems choose love over defeat and celebrate the warmth that humanity is capable of.

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9781960327055

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Reviews

"""The poems in Kremins's debut volume (after two chapbooks) reflect tenderly on grief and desire, and offer a refreshing embrace of chaos."" * New York Times Book Review * ""The Curve of Things is honeyed heat and blazing ache. Kathy Kremins queers the natural world in this collection, whispering to a beloved “deeply from long needles” in “Blue Fields” or, in her stunning title poem, mapping lesbian love-making such that plants, animals, human touch, and art-making layer within every gesture: “the geography of your foot / a beagle’s howl, the rabbit’s route, / my breath on your cheek, red, juicy tomatoes, / the binding of a book…” Here the imagination resurrects, intimacy prays in tongues, and poems are palimpsests – holy, elemental. Too, these poems map what canyons us: waving to a father while “blowing kisses in a direction lined with absence,” or in “About the Sadness,” bearing witness to the torment of an impossible love. Take a breath as you crease the spine of The Curve of Things open: what lies within is breathtaking.""   * Darla Himeles, author of 'Cleave' * ""Kathy Kremins' debut full-length poetry collection leaves me wet. Wet in my longing to discover all the places and things—""a new moon, an old wooden barrel, your hands cupped,"" wet for what we didn't know before we knew ""the sculptor's fingers"" and ""the spotted salamander,"" wet for all the geographies the speaker crosses and caresses with unabashed gratitude and grace, wet in my daydreaming of all the ways lovers and family and friends break and bloom in each other's company like a ""blue morning off the foothills/before the sun rises."" Never linear and always loud in its wanderlust, The Curve of Things is a manual for living truth. an unapologetic how-to on loving humanity in all its delicate, delicious, and dissettled forms."" * Marina Carreira, author of 'Tanto Tanto' and 'Desgraçada' * ""Kathy Kremins is an observer willing to challenge candor in the physical world while working toward & imagining a more equitable future. Like the title poem suggests, The Curve of Things is an inquisitive collection willing to explore epistemic gatherings as well as the ways in which we love, learn, & hold space for one another. From restorative tercets to enjambed backbeats these poems hold on to lightwaves and grace the heart with hands delicate enough to hold the beating, the breathing, and the deepest of grooves. Celebrating its own siren song in frank honesty, Kremins isn’t afraid to navigate the ever changing landscape of our humanity."" * Attorious Renee Augustin, Evoluculture Ventures * ""I feel as if I've been searching for this poetry collection my entire life, and now that I've found it I never want to let it go. Kathy perfectly details the importance and delicacies of queer love, a life lived full of the joyful kindness of nature splashed with a little something us scientific creatives lust after, and a love that feels like biting through a hard exterior just to feel the juicy center dribbling over chapped lips. To read this perfect, rejuvenating collection, is to see into the very soul of Kathy the Creative, Kathy the Lover, and Kathy the Heart of all of us."" -- Florence-Susanne Reppert"

"""The Curve of Things is honeyed heat and blazing ache. Kathy Kremins queers the natural world in this collection, whispering to a beloved “deeply from long needles” in “Blue Fields” or, in her stunning title poem, mapping lesbian love-making such that plants, animals, human touch, and art-making layer within every gesture: “the geography of your foot / a beagle’s howl, the rabbit’s route, / my breath on your cheek, red, juicy tomatoes, / the binding of a book…” Here the imagination resurrects, intimacy prays in tongues, and poems are palimpsests – holy, elemental. Too, these poems map what canyons us: waving to a father while “blowing kisses in a direction lined with absence,” or in “About the Sadness,” bearing witness to the torment of an impossible love. Take a breath as you crease the spine of The Curve of Things open: what lies within is breathtaking.""   * Darla Himeles, author of 'Cleave' * ""Kathy Kremins' debut full-length poetry collection leaves me wet. Wet in my longing to discover all the places and things—""a new moon, an old wooden barrel, your hands cupped,"" wet for what we didn't know before we knew ""the sculptor's fingers"" and ""the spotted salamander,"" wet for all the geographies the speaker crosses and caresses with unabashed gratitude and grace, wet in my daydreaming of all the ways lovers and family and friends break and bloom in each other's company like a ""blue morning off the foothills/before the sun rises."" Never linear and always loud in its wanderlust, The Curve of Things is a manual for living truth. an unapologetic how-to on loving humanity in all its delicate, delicious, and dissettled forms."" * Marina Carreira, author of 'Tanto Tanto' and 'Desgraçada' * ""Kathy Kremins is an observer willing to challenge candor in the physical world while working toward & imagining a more equitable future. Like the title poem suggests, The Curve of Things is an inquisitive collection willing to explore epistemic gatherings as well as the ways in which we love, learn, & hold space for one another. From restorative tercets to enjambed backbeats these poems hold on to lightwaves and grace the heart with hands delicate enough to hold the beating, the breathing, and the deepest of grooves. Celebrating its own siren song in frank honesty, Kremins isn’t afraid to navigate the ever changing landscape of our humanity."" * Attorious Renee Augustin, Evoluculture Ventures *"

"""The Curve of Things is honeyed heat and blazing ache. Kathy Kremins queers the natural world in this collection, whispering to a beloved “deeply from long needles” in “Blue Fields” or, in her stunning title poem, mapping lesbian love-making such that plants, animals, human touch, and art-making layer within every gesture: “the geography of your foot / a beagle’s howl, the rabbit’s route, / my breath on your cheek, red, juicy tomatoes, / the binding of a book…” Here the imagination resurrects, intimacy prays in tongues, and poems are palimpsests – holy, elemental. Too, these poems map what canyons us: waving to a father while “blowing kisses in a direction lined with absence,” or in “About the Sadness,” bearing witness to the torment of an impossible love. Take a breath as you crease the spine of The Curve of Things open: what lies within is breathtaking.""   * Darla Himeles, author of 'Cleave' * ""The poems in Kremins's debut volume (after two chapbooks) reflect tenderly on grief and desire, and offer a refreshing embrace of chaos."" * New York Times Book Review * ""Kathy Kremins' debut full-length poetry collection leaves me wet. Wet in my longing to discover all the places and things—""a new moon, an old wooden barrel, your hands cupped,"" wet for what we didn't know before we knew ""the sculptor's fingers"" and ""the spotted salamander,"" wet for all the geographies the speaker crosses and caresses with unabashed gratitude and grace, wet in my daydreaming of all the ways lovers and family and friends break and bloom in each other's company like a ""blue morning off the foothills/before the sun rises."" Never linear and always loud in its wanderlust, The Curve of Things is a manual for living truth. an unapologetic how-to on loving humanity in all its delicate, delicious, and dissettled forms."" * Marina Carreira, author of 'Tanto Tanto' and 'Desgraçada' * ""Kathy Kremins is an observer willing to challenge candor in the physical world while working toward & imagining a more equitable future. Like the title poem suggests, The Curve of Things is an inquisitive collection willing to explore epistemic gatherings as well as the ways in which we love, learn, & hold space for one another. From restorative tercets to enjambed backbeats these poems hold on to lightwaves and grace the heart with hands delicate enough to hold the beating, the breathing, and the deepest of grooves. Celebrating its own siren song in frank honesty, Kremins isn’t afraid to navigate the ever changing landscape of our humanity."" * Attorious Renee Augustin, Evoluculture Ventures *"

"""The Curve of Things is honeyed heat and blazing ache. Kathy Kremins queers the natural world in this collection, whispering to a beloved “deeply from long needles” in “Blue Fields” or, in her stunning title poem, mapping lesbian love-making such that plants, animals, human touch, and art-making layer within every gesture: “the geography of your foot / a beagle’s howl, the rabbit’s route, / my breath on your cheek, red, juicy tomatoes, / the binding of a book…” Here the imagination resurrects, intimacy prays in tongues, and poems are palimpsests – holy, elemental. Too, these poems map what canyons us: waving to a father while “blowing kisses in a direction lined with absence,” or in “About the Sadness,” bearing witness to the torment of an impossible love. Take a breath as you crease the spine of The Curve of Things open: what lies within is breathtaking.""   * Darla Himeles, author of 'Cleave' * ""The poems in Kremins's debut volume (after two chapbooks) reflect tenderly on grief and desire, and offer a refreshing embrace of chaos."" * New York Times Book Review * ""Kathy Kremins' debut full-length poetry collection leaves me wet. Wet in my longing to discover all the places and things—""a new moon, an old wooden barrel, your hands cupped,"" wet for what we didn't know before we knew ""the sculptor's fingers"" and ""the spotted salamander,"" wet for all the geographies the speaker crosses and caresses with unabashed gratitude and grace, wet in my daydreaming of all the ways lovers and family and friends break and bloom in each other's company like a ""blue morning off the foothills/before the sun rises."" Never linear and always loud in its wanderlust, The Curve of Things is a manual for living truth. an unapologetic how-to on loving humanity in all its delicate, delicious, and dissettled forms."" * Marina Carreira, author of 'Tanto Tanto' and 'Desgraçada' * ""Kathy Kremins is an observer willing to challenge candor in the physical world while working toward & imagining a more equitable future. Like the title poem suggests, The Curve of Things is an inquisitive collection willing to explore epistemic gatherings as well as the ways in which we love, learn, & hold space for one another. From restorative tercets to enjambed backbeats these poems hold on to lightwaves and grace the heart with hands delicate enough to hold the beating, the breathing, and the deepest of grooves. Celebrating its own siren song in frank honesty, Kremins isn’t afraid to navigate the ever changing landscape of our humanity."" * Attorious Renee Augustin, Evoluculture Ventures * ""I feel as if I've been searching for this poetry collection my entire life, and now that I've found it I never want to let it go. Kathy perfectly details the importance and delicacies of queer love, a life lived full of the joyful kindness of nature splashed with a little something us scientific creatives lust after, and a love that feels like biting through a hard exterior just to feel the juicy center dribbling over chapped lips. To read this perfect, rejuvenating collection, is to see into the very soul of Kathy the Creative, Kathy the Lover, and Kathy the Heart of all of us."" -- Florence-Susanne Reppert"

Author Information

Kathy Kremins is a retired New Jersey public school teacher and the author of two chapbooks of poems, Seamus & His Smalls and Undressing the World. She is also the author of An Ethics of Reading: The Broken Beauties of Toni Morrison, Nawal el Sadaawi, and Arundhati Roy. She is an editor for NJ Audubon Magazine and a member of the feminist poetry collective Write On! Poetry Babes.  

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