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
  • Without Myth …

    Without Myth …

  • Upcoming News & Events R.M. Engelhardt *updates

    Upcoming News & Events R.M. Engelhardt *updates

    Summer to Fall, Fall to Winter.

    Time goes by slowly or quickly depending on waiting for the return of things. Books, events etc. So here are a few updates to look forward to soon!

    WE

    ARE

    BACK

    INVOCATION
    ALBANY NY’S OPEN MIC FOR POETRY
    & THE SPOKEN WORD

    RETURNS TO LARK HALL
    351 Hudson Ave, Albany, NY
    ( ELEVEN CLUB) on
    MONDAY, DECEMBER 4TH!

    *Sign up At 7:30pm * Start Time 8pm*

    Hosted By R.M. Engelhardt & S.L. Maurice
    ~ With Music By Doctor Sax ~

    $5.00 Donation Requested

    Sponsored By Dead Man’s Press Ink Albany NY

    This Event Is Open To All Poets, Writers & The General Public

    POETRY IS FOR EVERYONE !

    Dead Man’s Press Ink

    dead Man’s Press Ink

    http://www.deadmanspressink.com

    Submissions window is about to reopen shortly after Thanksgiving and up until January 1st 2024. *Watch For it, the news on our website, Facebook or Instagram. There will be more guidelines & instructions to come.

    Coming Soon:

    BOOKS :

    I am currently working on possibly one to two new books and have been writing in some different styles in regards to subject matter as well as form. Who Killed The Muse? Will be either a short styled noir detective chapbook with a continuing story line and the other possible book is currently under the working title of The Gods Are Watching , which will be a book of poems addressing social issues as well as poems from observations & glimpses into the real & spirit worlds.

    More TBA Soon!

    And As Always, Thank You For

    Following My Blog & My Work !

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt , Albany NY

    November 20th, 2023

  • Ancestors * R.M. Engelhardt Poem

    Ancestors * R.M. Engelhardt Poem

    ANCESTORS

    To the soul of
    Another soul

    Born once

    Living once

    Ancestors

    I ask thee for guidance
    Admist the darkening storm
    The perpetual night

    A omen
    A sign

    Voices from
    A locked room

    The smoke rises
    Revealing the path to

    Home

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2023

  • THE GODS ARE WATCHING * R.M. Engelhardt

    THE GODS ARE WATCHING * R.M. Engelhardt

    THE GODS ARE WATCHING

    The

    Gods

    Are

    Watching

    Not Pagan
    Not Christian
    Not Holy
    Loving or
    Sacred

    They
    Are
    The
    Overlords
    Of
    Social
    Media

    Banks

    Credit
    Cards

    Corporations

    They dictate

    Nations
    Health Care

    And your
    Very Lives

    Paths

    The
    Gods
    Are
    Watching

    From
    Video
    Cameras
    &
    Desktops
    Drones
    &
    Streetcorners

    And You?

    Are merely
    A number

    Still believing
    That your
    Destiny

    Still
    Belongs

    To
    You

    Alone

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2023

  • Tough Shit. A Poem

    Tough Shit. A Poem

    TOUGH SHIT

    So you woke up this morning
    The sun was shining
    Birds singing

    Heard the screaming alarm
    Got outta bed
    Made coffee &
    Drove to work

    Got cut off in traffic
    Got the middle finger
    Got stuck at the red light
    And got a warning from
    Your boss

    Then?

    You got 150 calls
    Back to back
    Drove home

    Your dog
    Shit on the floor
    You burned your dinner
    The Internet stopped working

    Told the neighbor downstairs
    Playing loud music to stop
    So you could sleep

    Just to wake up
    Again tomorrow
    & repeat it all over

    So in your head
    you silently scream

    Please …

    STOP
    THIS
    ALL
    NOW

    But no.

    Nothing happens
    Nothing changes

    At all

    Well?

    So what?

    (Tough Shit)

    In an era an age where
    Kindness does or
    Does not exist

    Doesn’t rise?

    In a time when
    Assholes are trying
    To overthrow the government
    And wars in foreign countries
    Are bombing & killing everyone

    That’s right

    (Tough Shit)

    Because that’s reality
    That’s life
    That’s the real world
    Which we live in

    Whether you like it

    Or not

    And we all want
    A better world a better life
    Peace & positive change
    That all the politicians, leaders
    & all the other people of
    This world promise but

    Just
    won’t
    give

    Won’t make

    For anyone

    So

    (Tough Shit)

    Because that’s the
    Way it is

    Way it’s always been
    But in all honesty the
    Poet, artist or writer
    Shouldn’t lie or smooth
    Things all over, create happy false platitudes
    Or hope machines of loving grace

    For the living
    Or the dead
    Or even the brain dead

    But tomorrow?

    You will wake up again
    Curse these words, this poem
    For all it’s directness, its honesty
    And then wrapped up in your
    Daily routine forget all about it

    And read more words
    On social media
    Facebook or Instagram

    That will encourage you
    To get out there and
    Carpe diem, live & fight
    This endless battle
    Once more & again

    So without malice
    Without hate or
    With or without God
    The universe says

    (Tough shit)

    But declines to tell
    You why or what to do next

    But what have you done?
    Did? To change anything
    To even try or attempt to ?

    Perhaps nothing
    Perhaps alot

    But you still believe

    So maybe
    That’s enough
    All there is

    All we have

    Posting things up
    & tearing them down

    Because this remaining
    World isn’t just made of
    Beauty, justice & pretty
    Flowers or even love or
    Kindness but just

    Tough shit

    A party where you
    May sacrifice yourself
    Do what you can

    Or not

    All futures
    Are up
    To you

    Whether you
    Like it

    Or not

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2023

  • The Stars In The Night Sky*A Poem R.M. Engelhardt

    The Stars In The Night Sky*A Poem R.M. Engelhardt

    THE STARS IN THE SKY

    The children of
    Palestine, Israel
    Ukraine, Russia &
    America all see
    The same night
    Stars in the sky
    In the dark

    But some of those
    Lights are not the
    Stars of heavenly wonder
    But the last seconds
    Of life

    Before death

    Fear

    From above

    Bombs & war planes
    The burning world

    Where the stars suddenly all
    Become monsters

    Nightmares

    Become
    The bastards
    The reapers
    The harbingers
    Of all loss
    & despair

    But the children of
    Palestine, Israel
    Ukraine, Russia &
    America don’t understand
    Why don’t understand
    All the reasons why

    Any God or
    Any Father any
    Mother or leader,
    Soldier would want
    To kill anyone

    With a gun
    With hate
    With a bomb
    Or for a little patch
    Of dirt where hope
    Where love no longer

    Exists

    And so we
    All wonder why how
    They all grow up
    And become the
    Monsters themselves

    Looking up
    At the night sky &
    At all the stars above
    Perhaps sometimes thinking
    To themselves
    In the dark

    Why are we killing
    People & their children
    That we don’t even

    Know

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2023

    #f*ckdeath #f*ckwar

  • A RAKER OF DUST A RATTLER OF BONES ~ Poem R.M. Engelhardt

    A RAKER OF DUST A RATTLER OF BONES ~ Poem R.M. Engelhardt

    A RAKER OF DUST
    A RATTLER OF BONES

    A unknown author once wrote, once
    said that our world is a dying world
    of fragmentation and of despair

    Thus, making the poet, the writer the
    raker of dust, the rattler of bones

    &

    Like the shaman

    The very last of their kind

    All lost
    Gone

    The poets, the dreamers
    all dead & buried

    Before the the end of
    The 21st century

    With no magick

    No purpose

    No words

    All myth
    All lore

    Detached & destroyed
    In the chaos

    That is life

    That they call progress

    The prophets
    Have left the building

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2023

  • The Quiet Sacred Truth Of The Morning Darkness*R.M. Engelhardt

    The Quiet Sacred Truth Of The Morning Darkness*R.M. Engelhardt

    There is
    A sacred moment
    Just before the light

    Sounds

    Birds

    The wind
    The silence

    A beautiful world
    Without people

    Until the garbage
    Trucks start driving
    Through the streets
    Of the morning dawn

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2023

  • November * R.M. Engelhardt

    November * R.M. Engelhardt

    The breath of smoke moves through the early morning air, new frost upon the cold hard ground, sun through the trees. Winter still sleeps as the ravens call out to the gods. Our time slows down for merely a moment. Enough to feel the earth’s voice asking only for mere notice.

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt ©2022

  • Black Noise * R.M. Engelhardt

    Black Noise * R.M. Engelhardt

    The Corridor *photo by R.M. Engelhardt* FuzeBox Nightclub ©2023

    BLACK NOISE

    The dreams around us

    Encompassed by the dark

    Erotic visions of night 

    Surrounded

    By

    Black

    Noise

    Where the music

    Begins & 

    Ends

    In 

    Silence 

    &

    Desolation

    In

    Destruction 

    In 

    Exhilaration

    Against a 

    Background

    Of 

    Want

    Of 

    Need

    Of 

    Longing

    For 

    Something

    More

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt ©2023