Paved With Good Intentions

By Ron Kolm

We’ve just left

Your best friend’s house

And so far

It’s been a pretty good day.

“Hey, I think your buddy

Has the hots for me,” I joke.

Out of the corner of my eye

I see you pop open

The glove compartment

And fool around inside

Coming up with a surprise:

A stainless-steel can opener.

You aim for my eyes

And I grab your wrist

Just in time

But I can’t disarm you

With only one hand

And I need the other to steer.

We’re skidding

On loose gravel

As I pump the brake pedal

Trying to slow us down

Until we finally come

To a complete stop.

“You really don‘t have a clue,

Do you, Ronnie.” you hiss,

Sliding back onto your side of the seat.

“I’ve been trying to tell her

About our problems in bed --

Now she can find out for herself!”

When he's not getting poked in the eye, Ron Kolm is busy organizing a gazillion projects at the same time. For instance, I met Ron when he was busily organizing events with the performance poetry group most active in the 1990s, The Unbearables. He also has been gathering submissions for the wee Public Illuminations Magazine for what (?), some 30-some years. (PIM is the first "zine" I ever saw and liked when someone handed me a copy ca. early 1980s at a Black Flag gig in Knoxville, TN!) His huge archive of Downtown New York lit was purchased by the Fales Library at the NYU. He'll always be a point man, living reference, keeper of the faith for that sort of stuff. Oh, yeah, and he's a fantastic poet, and occasionally churns out a longer yarn if you coax him just right.