R.M. ENGELHARDT

Poet Writer Author Albany NY

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R.M. Engelhardt is an American poet, writer and author who over the last three decades has published over 20 books of poetry including “Nod” “Alchemy” DarkLands, RAW & “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 The School of Night & Vox. He is currently the host of SPEAK THE WORD ALBANY!. An Open Mic for Poetry And The Spoken Word at Ophelias. Over the last thirty years his work has also been published in many journals such as The Rye Whiskey Review, Red Fez, Rusty Truck, Sure! The Charles Bukowski Newsletter, Thunder Sandwich, Black Noise, 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, “WE RISE LIKE SMOKE” (2021) & Of Spirit, Ash & Bone (2022) and RAW- Poems ( 2023) all available on Amazon.com He is also the Editor of the small independent poetry press Dead Man’s Press Ink since 1998. Look for his books The Bones of Our Existence A Journal 2046 & his new books THE DYING TIME POEMS BY R.M. Engelhardt 2026 & NO KINGS 2025 available at Barnes & Noble and currently on Amazon. www.gentlemanoutsider.com *All Poems, Writings & Information Contained On This Blog Are The Property & Owned By The Author R.M. Engelhardt. © 2026 www.rmengelhardt.com

  • Now On SmashWords…

    Smashwords is an ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers and readers. We offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.

    For readers, Smashwords provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word. Once you register, the site offers useful tools for search, discovery and personal library-building, and each week we add new features based on feedback from members.

    At Smashwords, our authors and publishers have complete control over the sampling, pricing and marketing of their written works.

    Smashwords is ideal for publishing novels, short fiction, poetry, personal memoirs, monographs, non-fiction, research reports, essays, or other written forms that haven’t even been invented yet.

    It’s free to publish and distribute with Smashwords.

    R.M. Engelhardt...Poet

    Now On SmashWords…

  • Ruthless Gravity

    Ruthless Gravity

    Sound Wisdom ...
    S

    Tonight on television
    there is an actor talking about his battle with
    drug addiction, sex addiction and life.

    You would think that by the way
    the host is interviewing him
    that he is wise & worldly, an
    ancient sage from his
    battle with the curse

    of “celebrity”

    And there are a billion lights
    in the great big city, a million lives
    that get up everyday and go to work like
    everybody else. And their addiction is food,
    their addiction is rent and how to somehow
    get thru the next day and make sure that
    their children are dressed, educated & well-fed.

    So the question is is that when you
    look at the world do you see a gift? Or do you see an
    enemy? Do you have faith or do you pretend that
    all of these famous people are like you or your friends?

    The constant partying,
    the good life, broads & booze,
    high fashion, money and
    Paris Hilton bending over your
    patio bench just waiting for
    a piece of what you’ve got to give.

    But there are those of us who
    happen to live in the real world,
    those who believe in more than just
    the shallow trash that all the others
    seem to admire.

    And they call us the survivors who don’t
    need the shit or the television to fulfill our
    needs. The survivors who don’t need the
    drama or the fake religions of the moment,
    the meth or the cocaine, a little dog or
    a brand new $400. dollar purse.

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt

  • THE SAINT POEM READING SERIES
    AN OPEN MIC FOR POETS, POETRY & THE SPOKEN WORD
    MONDAY, MAY 16th At The UAG:

    Featured Poet : STEVEN MINCHIN

    7:30pm Sign Up * 8pm Start
    $4.00 Donation Requested

    THE SAINT POEM READING SERIES
    AT THE UPSTATE ARTISTS GUILD
    Held Every 3rd Monday Of Each Month
    Hosted By R.M. Engelhardt

    _________________

    Poetry…Poets & Experimental Writing. Featured Poets & Their Work As Well As Themes. These Are The Things That Have Made Poetry Open Mics Interesting Over The Years & That Have Kept The Voices Returning. SAINT POEM Is A New Reading Series Which Will Encourage New Poets & Writers And Change In The Albany,NY Poetry-And Open Mic Scene. This Reading Is All About The Work…And Most Importantly, The Words!
    Sponsored By The UAG & MythicAlbany-AlbanyAtNight & Hosted By Veteran Albany Poet R.M. Engelhardt

    www.rmengelhardtpoet.com

  • Two Poems More Than – Evening

    MORE THAN …


    Evening...

    More than just this;

    A hand, a halo, a tryst,

    Swallowed up in imagery

    Synergy … the electricity

    Of a single.. simple …. ‘Word’.

    Phrases given by divine intervention,

    Ecstasy or the need for flight,

    From God or Buddha, Mohammad

    Or the night.

    More than just this;

    Your love, your voice exists.

    Re-invents astrology resists where history, temptation has been,

    Genesis, or the temporal servants of the momentary rhyme,

    Or a monumental pause … of the mind.

    More than just this;

    Poetry must be

    Can be

    Much more than just a drunk

    Or a mere critic, a contagious madman

    A martyr, a saint, your youth, your death, or your age.

    This crime of sincerity

    More than just an eternity

    ‘Forgotten’

    R.M. Engelhardt

    ___________________________

    EVENING

    Evening…

    You kill me.

    Slow pulse, slow your image still burning

    Still.

    Ouiet,

    As all these voices come out

    Into the dark, at night.

    My love, my sadness… ‘Night’

    You, more than just another dance

    With the moon.


    R.M. Engelhardt

  • Somebody …

    (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

  • Masks

    mask

    M A S K S

    Our true identity is often hidden behind the masks we wear.

    Masks contain complete social schemas. Others look at the mask and understand what it represents and know what mask to wear themselves. Like a formal ball, the masks thus dance with one another with our selves safely concealed beneath.

    Masks thus protect the person and facilitate interaction with others. I wear a mask in different situations to be the person I want to be there.

    Masks may be provided by others who interpellate people into subject and cultural roles.

    Masks provide a position of safety as we hide our anxieties behind masks of power and security.

    We wear layers of masks, such that if one is removed, the true self is not found beneath, but just another mask…

  • Wordsworth…

    (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

  • Rex Mundi…

    Who is Rex Mundi?

    Rex Mundi is an American comic book published by Image Comics (2003–06) and Dark Horse Comics (2006–09), written by Arvid Nelson and drawn by Argentinian artist Juan Ferreyra. In all, 19 issues were published by Image before the series moved to Dark Horse, where a further 19 were published before the title ended.

    The series is a quest for the Holy Grail told as a murder mystery. It is set in the year 1933, in an alternate history Europe, where magic is real, feudalism persisted, and the Protestant Reformation was crushed by a still politically powerful Catholic Church. All of this is woven together as “… a meditation on the prophecies surrounding the advent of the Bahá’í era.”[1] The book takes its name from the Latin term meaning King of the World. It is derived from the Cathar heresies of the Middle Ages, and taken up in works like The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Within the Cathar context it seems to have been equated with the Demiurge.

    ~ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    http://www.rexmundi.net/main/index.html

  • I WAS ONCE DEAD TOO

    In a famous painting
    of Christ nailed to
    and crucified upon the cross
    I am the watching
    leper on the right.
    And with my one good eye
    I watch as Jesus dies
    and screams up into
    darkening sky asking
    his father for a reason

    why?

    And then, suddenly
    as the clouds open up
    and the rain begins
    the Romans scatter like mice,
    the water, burning off their
    flesh like corrosive acid.
    As I feel the wetness upon my
    skin like the warmth of a beautiful woman
    touching my face, I raise my
    hands outward, and I am healed.
    When a voice comes
    which tells me I am now
    the angel of death, and the
    watcher in the eternity
    that is time, wandering
    the earth.

    The screams of both Jesus,
    and his murderers the Romans
    now a distant sound & memory
    in a world without messiahs
    or miracles to amaze us.
    Only questions
    which remain unanswered.

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt

  • POETS WANTED: The Saint Poem Reading Series For Poets, Albany-NY

    The Saint Poem Reading Series, Albany-NY

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    SAINT POEM READING SERIES FOR POETS COMES TO THE UPSTATE ARTISTS GUILD
    Reading Set To Bring New Voices & New Poetry To The Capital Region In The Arts Community.

    SAINT POEM POETRY OPEN MIC AT THE UAG

    THE SAINT POEM READING SERIES AT THE UAG

    _________________________

    Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. ~Leonard Cohen

    SAINT POEM : A New Open Mic For Poets & Writers Held Monthly At The UAG

    Poetry…Poets & Experimental Writing. Featured Poets & Their Work As Well As Themes. These Are The Things That Have Made Poetry Open Mics Unique & Interesting Over The Years And That Have Kept The Voices Returning.
    SAINT POEM Is A New Reading Series Which Will Encourage New Poets & Writers And Change In The Albany,NY Poetry-And Open Mic Scene. This Reading Is All About The Work, The Writing…And Most Importantly, The Words!
    This Event Is Sponsored By The UAG & MythicAlbany-AlbanyAtNight And Hosted By Veteran Albany Poet, R.M. Engelhardt.

    THE SAINT POEM READING SERIES For Poets & Poetry. An Open Mic Held Every 3rd MONDAY EVENING OF EACH MONTH!
    7.30pm Sign Up~8pm Start Time. $4.00 Donation Requested.
    Sponsored By The UAG & MythicAlbany.

    UAG

    Upstate Artists Guild, Albany-NY

    Upstate Artists Guild
    247 Lark Street
    Albany, NY 12210
    (518) 426-3501

    http://upstateartistsguild.org

    www.rmengelhardtpoet.com