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

  • Revelations by Talon (R.M. Engelhardt)

    New Poem Published by In Between Hangovers

    inbetweenhangovers's avatarIn Between Hangovers

    Post structural dark decay at the end of another post modern day
    Sleep

    To dream in the shadows
    To fear the news
    The media
    To remain
    Alone

    Dear God
    This poetry
    This poverty
    These remnants of
    Hope
    All fading
    A reckoning
    Of sorts
    Merely
    Waiting for
    The return
    Of something
    Lost

    Pockets
    Full of miracles
    Memories
    Scattered across
    A landscape
    Of faith

    These revelations
    That come to me
    At night
    Without
    Saviors

    Post structural dark decay at the end of another post modern day
    Sleep

    In the embrace of
    Unseen angels
    That haunt our
    Dead &
    Abandoned

    Souls

    View original post

  • The Mission Returns! 2018

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    Welcome To The Troy Poetry Scene 2018 !

    The Troy Poetry Mission returns to O’Brien’s Public House on Wednesday, January 31st with a public poetry spoken word open mic . No feature, just poets.

    This month we encourage you to to just bring a few poems, have a drink and be a part of the Troy poetry community. New writers and poets are always welcome!

    *Sign up at 7:30pm
    *8pm start time

    http://www.troypoetrymission.com

    Hosted by R.M. Engelhardt
    And James H. Duncan

    BEAT GENERATION SLAM SPOKEN WORD PROSE POETRY TROY POETRY MORE …

    The Troy Poetry Mission
    Welcome Poetry

  • Some Days

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    SOME DAYS

    Some days I question human behavior I question what we are doing here I question where I came from where mankind came from after I watch the news on tv after listening to people talking on there cell phones screaming at other human beings on the bus. But somehow I never give up. Somehow I just keep moving on. So I light another cigarette, and in that motion I become Buddha I become God . I become just another one of Darwin’s monkeys philosophizing why we all even bother anymore as somewhere aliens are watching us from a spacecraft in the stars drinking beer & writing poems about us.

  • Shakespeare Once Said

    Shakespeare Once Said

    SHAKESPEARE ONCE SAID

     

    Shakespeare once said:
    The Prince of Darkness is a Gentleman
    (But never a lunatic)
    Or a spy

    That night when
    Shakespeare saw Marlowe
    Only briefly
    In the mirror
    When words came to him
    In the silence
    Of the night air or
    From a bottle
    Or a muse

    When dreamers, poets were
    Murdered
    Softly ever so softly
    Without prayers
    Merely
    For convience

    Under the shadow
    Of the moon
    Buried in books or
    Buried in unmarked
    Graves alone

    But
    Shakespeare never said
    Anything about the dead

    He only wrote about
    All his ghosts second hand

    Yes.

    Shakespeare
    Used to say alot
    Of shit

    Sometimes
    Even twice

  • Being A Poet

    Picsart2017-07-11--19-33-00“Being a poet isn’t something you are or choose. It’s something that happens to you at irregular intervals and with no guarantee it will happen again. You can disregard it when it does happen but you can’t turn it on. All you can do is wait.”

    ~ Margaret Atwood

  • Failed Human Mantra

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    FAILED HUMAN MANTRA

    Repeat After Me:

    I am perfect
    I am powerful
    I am strong
    I am whole
    I am loving
    I am happy
    I am harmonious

    Fuck.

    I am
    None of
    These
    Things
    But human

    I am
    None of
    These things
    But words
    With decomposing

    “Flesh”

     

    ~ Talon
    (R.M. Engelhardt)

  • January 2018

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    New Poets. New Writers.

    Poetry. Fiction. Books.

    Step Up To The Mic In Troy, NY In 2018.

    See You Soon

    ~ The Troy Poetry Mission

    #stepuptothemic
    #troyny
    #troypoetrymission

  • The Ballad of Fast Eddie

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    THE BALLAD OF FAST EDDIE

    Back
    In the 1970s
    Fast Eddie was
    An old man
    Who walked
    Down the streets
    Of the city
    Of Troy
    Looking for a
    Fight looking for
    All the bad guys in
    A child sized
    Cowboy hat with
    Two cap
    Pistols & his
    Belt looking
    For the
    OK Corral
    On the streets
    And in the
    Alleyways of
    The city where
    He was the sheriff
    Waiting for the clock
    To strike

    Noon

    “Eat lead!”

    Eddie would yell
    At all the passersby’s
    Who laughed
    At him cap
    Guns blazing in
    The air
    The sun the
    Fastest gunslinger
    In the West
    This side of
    Albany a legend
    Who kept Troy
    Safe from a world
    Too hard to
    Understand too
    Scared to deal
    With life & all
    The pressures
    Of the world
    And of
    The mind

    Eddie
    Liked his
    Sarsaparilla
    Straight up
    And took no
    Gruff from
    Anyone another
    Hero lost in time
    Protecting the world
    From the men in
    Black hats that
    We could
    Never see

    Eddie
    Was a real
    Gunfighter
    A real man that
    All the children
    Could look up
    To a man who
    Was kind but
    Tough but who
    Didn’t see the
    End coming

    Until one
    Day when
    Eddie was casually
    Walking down
    The block
    And got shot down
    By the gas company
    Maintenance man
    Known to all his friends
    As Tom Terrific
    Who pointed his
    Finger at Eddie
    And said

    “Draw!”

    And fired

    But Eddie just
    Wasn’t fast
    Enough
    His pistols never
    Leaving the holsters
    In time

    Pow! Pow!
    Tom’s finger
    Took him down
    And Eddie
    Pretended to
    Be shot
    And dropped
    To the ground

    And
    That was
    The End
    Of Fast
    Eddie
    And he
    Was sent
    To a psychiatric
    Hospital
    Where they
    Just called him

    “Ed”

     

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt

  • Talon (R.M. Engelhardt)

    The Beatnik Cowboy's avatarThe Beatnik Cowboy

    MURMUR

    There is an echo
    That resonates
    Throughout her soul
    A light
    Where all darkness
    Disappears

    Her smile
    A mere second
    Which lasts
    An eternity

    View original post

  • Haiku For Charles Manson

    SHORT HAIKU FOR CHARLES MANSON

    Burn Mother
    Fucker

    Burn.