Ron Kolm is the author of Divine Comedy, Duke & Jill, Suburban Ambush, A Change in the Weather, Welcome to the Barbecue, Night Shift, Swimming in the Shallow End, The Bookstore Book: A Memoir, and The Verities of Love. He’s had work in And Then,  Brownstone Poets anthologies, Gathering of the Tribes, Great Weather for Media, Maintenant, Live Mag!, Local Knowledge, NYC from the Inside, Public Illumination Magazine, Poets of Queens, The Red Wheelbarrow, Riverside Poets, The Café Review, and The Opiate. Ron’s papers were purchased by the New York University Library.

Ron Kolm reads his poetry at Espresso 77, in Jackson Heights, the first Tuesday of every month. He also participates in the poetry readings at Kew & Willow, a wonderful bookstore in Kew Gardens, Queens. Also, Ron has read for Eleni Traganas in her series in the Woodside Library. The publisher of his Bookstore Book: A Memoir, Linda Kleinbub’s Pink Trees Press, is based in Queens. Both of his sons, Gregory and Daniel Kolm, are in the band, Arklight, and they live and work in Queens.

NB: How does Queens inspire you? What are some of your favorite places to be inspired in Queens?

RK: I love so many things about Queens, and I am so grateful to live here! I enjoy the diversity of the population that lives and works here, the different languages they speak, and the products they sell. I also enjoy walking through the various neighborhoods and looking at the beautifully designed older buildings that still exist in this borough. There is such a sense of history everywhere, and it comforts and inspires me

NB: What advice do you have for readers who are hoping to develop their writing or poetry practice

RK: The advice I would give to aspiring poets and writers is to simply keep at it. Keep your eyes and senses always open, because you never know when inspiration might hit. Also, if you’re able to, attend poetry readings and surround yourself with interesting friends who are also writing prose or poetry.

NB: How important is personal connection and communication (networking?) in your industry?

RK: I have to be honest here: networking is important. You are able to reach more folks to get feedback from, and to help you promote your finished work: both unpublished and published.

NB: What are your favorite restaurants, cafes, theaters, bookstores, exhibits, museums, communities, and venues in Queens? Favorite places to write, perform, or have your work performed?

RK: Among my favorite restaurants in Queens is Dillinger’s Pub & Grill on the corner of 47th Street and 30th Avenue. The food is wonderful and the staff is experienced and courteous. Some of my writer friends took me there last year to celebrate my birthday! Diagonally across the street is another great Queens restaurant: Max Bratwurst und Bier. As far as places to read and/or listen to poetry: Espresso 77 every first Tuesday. The series is run by Richard Jeffrey Newman. Another great place to experience a poetry reading is Kew & Willow Bookstore in Kew Gardens, usually on the 4th Friday of every month. It is a terrific bookstore, and the staff is wonderful.

NB: Do you have any events or projects coming up that you’d like to promote?

RK: I do have a new collection of poems, just published, entitled ‘The Verities of Love,’ published by The Opiate Books. I have been working on scheduling some readings in the future to publicize it. I will be featuring at Evie Ivy’s The Green Pavilion Poetry Event on Wednesday, May 27th, in the Green Pavilion restaurant, 43-07 18th Avenue, in Brooklyn.

NB: What is a typical day like for you?

RK: A typical day for me revolves around my family, and to a lesser degree, my so-called career. My wife, Donna, was a professional dancer back in her youth. She was a member of the Radio City Ballet Corps. She still maintains her physical attributes by visiting a gym almost every day. We precede her trip to the gym drinking coffee and eating doughnuts at our favorite Queens neighborhood coffee shop, DeLite Café, on the corner of Broadway and 46th Street. The staff there is wonderful, and we highly recommend it! After we finish, she heads down into the subway station and I return home to write poems, and to try to prepare for whichever poetry reading I have on my schedule for that evening. Later, I head for the subway myself, show up at some venue or another, read, and then return to the neighborhood to meet my wife and my son, Greg, to share a snack on his lunch break, which we usually do at the McDonald’s on Steinway Street. Then my wife and I head back home to try to get some sleep that evening, so I can repeat it all tomorrow.

NB: Can you tell us more about your latest writing? How has your writing changed or stayed the same since we last interviewed you?

RK: Unfortunately, my writing now seems to be influenced a lot more by my ageing. As one gets older, things happen, and many times the things that happen are totally unexpected. For instance, about a year ago, I was scheduled to read in a club on First Avenue and First Street in Manhattan. I didn’t feel well when I got up that morning, but I forced myself to show up at the venue. When I approached the mic I collapsed. The club thought I’d had a heart attack, so they called for an ambulance, which took me to the NYU Langone Health emergency room. I was kept there for seven and a half hours before they released me. I wrote a poem about that experience, which I tried to read during the Poetry Festival that summer on Governors Island. I almost collapsed again. And I wrote a poem about that, too. So I now have to be much more aware of what’s going on healthwise inside of myself. And this process is creating a different sort of work.

NB: Can you tell us more about your sons in Queens and the band Arklight? Did your poetry inspire them? Have you collaborated creatively?

RK: Both of my sons, who are members of the band Arklight, live and work in Queens. My younger son, Gregory, works for Puregym, which used to be named Blink, on Steinway Street. Daniel, my older son, works for the Queens Public Library on Broadway. Greg is the band’s drummer, and Daniel writes the songs and plays lead guitar. Arklight has performed twice in the bar/restaurant Shillelagh Tavern on the corner of 30th Avenue and 48th Street. Please check them out!

—Nicollette Barsamian

The Local-Express interview series was originated on July 3, 2013 by Nicollette Barsamian.