Yesterday’s SOUL, A Poem By R.M. Engelhardt

R.M. ENGELHARDT POET AUTHOR WRITER

YESTERDAY’S SOUL

Where Poetry
Is Still Real
&
Evolution

Is an erased
Concept &
Theory

In yesterday’s clothes
Yesterday’s soul
Driving through a
City that once was

Truth

Where the homeless
Man on the corner
Is a brand new one
Replacing all the dead ones & all
The buildings
Have demolition stickers
On their front doors

Where all the old cafes, coffee houses
Rock N Roll bars & restaurants

All closed

And where
Reality is a porn shop
That replaced the clothing
Store, the thrift shop the
Streets still full of potholes

And the trees are
All broken or torn down

Like in some dystopian novel
Left behind in a time of
Prosperity

For the rich

And never
The poor

Never
The poor
(of course)

So let’s see the pretty flowers
Still there in the park

And find a dead body
While you’re talking
A walk

Another ringer
For Jesus Christ

Without a cross

Even the swans
Won’t come here

Anymore

This city, this place now
An old empty bottle of whiskey
Thrown in the garbage along
With all the dog shit by tenants
Being charged too much rent

This city

The place that has lost

Yesterday’s soul

Where the mayor &
The governor don’t
Care about anyone

But themselves

And the sound of cash
Jingling in their back pockets

As always

Welcome to Albany NY