I have spent most of my life (like most people)
avoiding transcendence at all costs, mainly
because the shit hurts. Merely defining transcen-
dence can sometimes be painful. I once heard that
“Transcendence is the act of going through some-
thing”. Ouch. I see plate glass windows and
divorces. Someone else told me that it was “rising
above whatever one encountered in one’s path” but
at this point in my life that smacks of avoidance as
well as elitism of some sort. I am compelled to look
back on years of going through, above, as well as
around my life looking for loopholes to redefine
everything including any and all of the ideas that
I have held close to my heart along the way – Art –
Freedom – Justice – Revolution – Love (a big one) –
Growth – Passion – Parenting (a really big one) –
and I find that for me, for now, transcendence is
about being still enough long enough to know
when it’s time to move on. Fuck me.
Steve Earle
January 2000
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Published by R.M. ENGELHARDT POET AUTHOR WRITER
R.M. Engelhardt is a poet, writer and author who over the last two decades has published over 16 books of poetry including "Nod" "Logos" "Alchemy" & "The Last Cigarette: The Collected Poems of R.M. Engelhardt. The founder of the Upstate NY organization Albany Poets & the Annual Poetry Celebration The Albany Word Fest he has through his ideas & visions helped to contribute a large amount of advocacy and creativity to the Spoken Word~Poetry Capital District scene and is the former host of the long running readings Vox, Propaganda, Listen & currently is creating a new resurrection of one of the area's most well known open mics for poetry and spoken word THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT in Troy, NY held on the last Wednesday evening of each month at the incredible nightclub/speak easy bar THE BERLIN IN TROY NY. His writing has also been published by many journals such as The Rye Whiskey Review, Red Fez, Rusty Truck, Sure! The Charles Bukowski Newsletter, Thunder Sandwich, The Hobo Camp Review, Full of Crow, on the Outlaw Poetry Network & in many many others.
Look for his books "WHERE THE PEOPLE'S VISION PERISHES 2020" "DARK LANDS (2019 on LuLu, Amazon & At Barnes and Noble) The Resurrection Waltz, 2012 ( Infinity Press) & "COFFEE ASS BLUES & OTHER POEMS" ( 2018 Alien Buddha Press 2018) " DarkLands" 2019 & "Where There Is No Vision" 2020 and his new books, "WE RISE LIKE SMOKE" (2021) & Of Spirit, Ash & Bone (2022) all available on Amazon.com
He is also the Editor of the small independent poetry press DeadMansPressInk.
www.gentlemanoutsider.com
*All Poems, Writings & Information Contained On This Blog Are The Property & Owned By The Author R.M. Engelhardt. © 2021
www.rmengelhardt.com
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