Ron Kolm

Ron Kolm (born 1947) is an American poet, editor, activist and bookseller, based in New York City. Kolm came to New York in 1970 and got a job at the Strand bookstore, where he worked with Tom Verlaine and Patti Smith.

During this period he became friends and colleagues with a group of writers who would come to exemplify the "Downtown" scene of the 1970s and 80s. In 1985, Kolm, Bart Plantenga, Mike Golden, Max Blagg and Peter Lamborn Wilson founded the Unbearables, a loose collective of poets and artists based on the precepts of Hakim Bey, as set forth in his seminal book, TAZ (Temporary Autonomous Zone). They took their name from a short story by Mike Golden.

Kolm has been one of the editors of their anthologies: Unbearables (1995), Crimes of the Beats (1998) and Help Yourself! (2002), all published by Autonomedia. Kolm's own publications include The Plastic Factory (1989, Red Dust), Welcome to the Barbecue (Low-Tech Press, 1990) and Rank Cologne (P.O.N. Press, 1991). His work can also be found, along with the other Unbearables, in the Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999), and in Up Is Up, But So Is Down: New York's Literary Scene, 1974-1992 (New York University Press, 2006). He has collaborated on a novel, Neo Phobe, written with Jim Feast (Unbearable Books, 2006).

Historian Robert Siegle describes Kolm as "an editor and facilitator for magazines and presses as well as a writer of fiction and poetry" who "carried boxes of little magazines around to bookstores, passed around copies of new work, and connected people" [In Taylor, Marvin J., ed., "The Downtown Book" (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, p. 149).] in general, noting that "wherever we look along the networks that hold together the diverse creative talents who constitute this cultural revolution, we find Kolm." ["Suburban Ambush," (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989, p. 23)]

The Ron Kolm papers (some 35 cartons of correspondence, notebooks, objects, chapbooks, signed first editions and runs of literary magazines) were purchased by the Fales Library at New York University, where they now reside. The Finding Aid to the Ron Kolm Papers is available online: [http://dlib.nyu.edu:8083/falesead/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=kolm.xml&style=saxon01f2002.xsl The Ron Kolm Papers]

The Unbearables, who presently include writers Jim Feast, Carol Wierzbicki, Bonny Finberg, Carl Watson, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Jill Rapaport, Mike Topp, Michael Carter and many others, continue to publish and perform in a variety of configurations and venues.

Bibliography

External links

* [http://www.unbearables.com/ Unbearables.com] – official website of The Unbearables