The Beat Goes On
Ron Kolm
It was a slow night in the bookstore
so I went over to the literature section
and grabbed a copy of Celine's
Death on the Installment Plan
and took it back to my post
at the cash register.
I hid it under the counter
...
What Will Come of It All
Ron Kolm
I’m sitting
In the Parkside Lounge
With a good friend, drinking
Too many White Russians
And bemoaning
The state of the world.
“What’s going to happen?”
I ask her.
“Well,” she says,
“There wi...
Problem Child
Ron Kolm
It all started with a big bang -- the sound of something heavy smashing against a wall, and it came from the apartment directly below mine. I headed out into the hallway to see what had happened, and was greeted by the secon...
One Hundred Years Among the Daisies, poems by George Wallace – Review
Ron Kolm
One Hundred Years Among the Daisies, poems by George Wallace. Published by Stubborn Mule Press, 2018.
I have this notion that the chunk of time we’re going through in ‘our’ American culture, under Mr. Trump, is ...
Matty Jankowski, RIP
Ron Kolm
There was a posting on Facebook on Saturday, January 12th, by Joe Maynard, an old friend, saying that a buddy of ours, Matty Jankowski, had just passed away in Florida. It was a very moving tribute, and it also contained a l...
A Hermit Has No Plural by Gabor G. Gyukics – Review
Ron Kolm
A Hermit Has No Plural by Gabor G. Gyukics, Singing Bone Press.
A Hermit Has No Plural, a collection of poems by the great Hungarian writer, Gabor G. Gyukics, is wonderfully unique. It is a surrealist vision of a world...
Hand Job
Ron Kolm
Hand Job
It’s my first day on the job
In a plant making hand trucks.
“You’ll be rubbing acid on new
Welds to seal them,” the foreman
Tells me. “Here’s some rubber
Gloves,” he says, tossing me a pair.
...
Hells Kitchen
Ron Kolm
Hells Kitchen
After the war in Vietnam
Wound down, and my stint
Doing alternative service
Came to an end,
I had to stop
And take stock
Of my situation.
I could return to Pennsylvania
And get a job in a factory
D...
Pierced by Night-Colored Threads, by Dean Kostos, reviewed
Ron Kolm
Pierced by Night-Colored Threads by Dean Kostos, published by MadHat Press, (Asheville, North Carolina, 2017). Reviewed by Ron Kolm
I’ve read a fair amount of poetry; I was the editor of The Evergreen Review for thr...
Classical Music Lover
Ron Kolm
Classical Music Lover
I was sitting behind the cash register
In Eastside Bookstore
On a warm summer afternoon
In June, 1976.
The evening junkie group nod
Hadn’t started yet,
But they would eventually
Shuffle in...
A Christmas Miracle, Sort Of…
Ron Kolm
It’s a cold morning, two weeks before Christmas, and I’m walking across 57th street on my way to work when I noticed him up ahead, shuffling along the curb -- silver hair, blue jacket and white sneakers – not dressed f...
A Bad Day – An Excerpt From Duke And Jill
Ron Kolm
Duke knew it was going to be a bad day, even before he got out of bed. He had a splitting headache, and a lump the size of a nickel bag on the back of his neck. He couldn’t remember where he’d been last night—or how he...
8th Street Station (Yin-Yang)
Ron Kolm
I met you
At the Grey Gallery
Across from Washington Square Park.
We were going to the opening
Of The Left Front: Radical
Art in the “Red Decade.”
We ate all the peanuts
And most of the chips
That were set out...
The Hurricane
Ron Kolm
My Sister is a pastor
For a hospice
In New Jersey—
She’s part of a team
That drives up and down
The length of the state
Helping the dying die.
She spends her nights
In motels and keeps her files
In her car; her...
What I Did Today, Carl Watson's Issue
Ron Kolm
After contributing to an earlier issue of What I Did Today, Carl Watson collected three two-thousand word essays to go along with his already published one, to complete his own follow-up issue. Here’s Michael Randall’s ...
