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
  • TIME HOPE DREAM

    TIME HOPE DREAM

    TIME HOPE DREAM

    Perhaps
    We Cannot
    Defeat Time

    Perhaps
    We Will
    Never Defeat
    Death

    But While
    We Are Here
    We Can Hope
    And Dream

    And Manifest
    Destiny

    And Make
    Time Stand Still

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • Once Called America

    Once Called America

  • The Voice Of Tomorrow

    THE VOICE OF TOMORROW

    The voice of tomorrow
    Is the voice of today

    The voice of tomorrow
    Isn’t a writer, an activist
    Or a politician, a pop star
    Or a racist thug spreading lies
    And speaking at
    A university

    The voice of tomorrow
    Isn’t a tyrant, a president
    Or a Democrat, a liberal
    Or the KKK

    The voice of tomorrow
    Is simply a child

    Who will create a better
    World, a better place free
    Of monsters & violence
    Hatred & rage

    Free of deportations
    And all the twisted games
    Who speaks for all the
    People and not for it’s
    Rich, but for its poor

    And for the common
    Women, and man

    Making sure that each one
    Has a better life

    And
    The voice of tomorrow
    Isn’t an over zealous
    Religious person or a
    Religious fake

    The voice of tomorrow
    Can be heard today

    Asking their mother;

    “Who are these bad men in masks?”

    And asking their father;

    “Can’t we just move away?”

    The voice of tomorrow
    Is now seeing the worst of
    Human behavior

    The damage everywhere

    Who is asking in their prayers at night

    “Why?”

    ” Why haven’t they arrested the bad fat man
    With the ugly red tie?”The orangutan man?

    The clown?

    Because he hurts people bad
    And doesn’t help them

    And never helps them

    At all

    The voice of tomorrow
    Is the voice of today

    Making more sense than
    Any of us

    Simply knowing

    What’s right
    & what’s wrong

    The monsters
    The nightmares
    All long gone

    And dust

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ®2025

  • ASH

    ASH

    The words once
    Devestated
    The mind

    Some

    Uplifted the
    Soul

    The dead
    Can no longer
    Hear them

    The living
    No longer
    Listen

    Unless they
    Are wrapped up
    In a package
    Of glamour
    Or deceit

    Can you still
    Hear them?

    The poets
    Ask

    Can you still
    Feel them?

    The poets
    Cry

    But the masses
    Are now all
    Deaf & blind

    Conditioned
    By the promise
    Of something
    More

    But lift the veil
    And close the
    Curtain and
    You’ll find there’s
    Only an empty
    Stage

    An empty
    Book

    Full of
    Yesterdays
    And no tomorrows

    Never finding
    The ghosts of
    Poets past

    Or new voices
    That burn
    The soul

    Into ash

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • UNDER THE REIGN OF AN INSANE MONARCH

    UNDER THE REIGN OF
    AN INSANE MONARCH

    Everything
    Dies here

    Even the stars

    Under the
    Dead weight
    The blind hate
    Of 50 states
    Ununited

    There is no
    Beauty here

    Only death
    And decay

    And a flag
    No longer of
    Meaning

    Under the reign
    Of an insane
    Monarch

    And the monsters
    Which he has made

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • COFFEE MESSIAH

    COFFEE MESSIAH

    When the sun comes up

    And the dawn of a new day

    Rises

    Fuk em.

    I’m a coffee messiah

    When people don’t

    Like what I say or write

    Fuk em.

    I’m a coffee messiah

    When the job

    Gets stressful &

    The people get tired

    Fuk em.

    I’m a coffee messiah

    &

    I’m 2000 years old

    But I appear middle aged

    I got a beef with God

    I’ve got a beef with hate

    Racists, assholes & the KKK

    Who can’t even handle their whiskey

    And I’ve taken down

    More monsters than

    All those “Johnny Come

    Lately’s” taking the credit

    For my rage

    Still

    Fighting battles

    When they all

    Just gave up

    Without energy

    Uncaffinated

    Lame

    Like Nazis on parade

    In a city they don’t belong

    Breathing out fire

    And smoking my cigs

    I got a habit hooked

    On this fuel that lets

    Me breathe

    Without EVER stopping

    To SLEEP

    I got Voltaire and Kerouac

    Hooked on caffeine, Bach &

    Beethoven, Kierkegaard &

    Pepys

    Tanked

    Addicted

    Strung out

    Like an angel of creativity

    A blessing

    Stronger than any morphine

    Why?

    Because fuk em

    I’m a coffee messiah

    For my church is coffee &

    Coffee incarnate

    That flows through my veins

    And nothing else remains

    Walking through out

    History wearing shades looking

    For my next dark cup dark fix

    Mocha Lattes

    Double shot Expresso’s

    Or straight up just black

    A fucking form of alchemy

    That never quits

    Looking for cafes & coffee

    Houses along the way

    Ever since the day

    They were made by

    People who realized

    Coffee’s here to stay

    And that they cannot exist

    Without it

    So the next time

    You witness some miracle or

    When the world is in dismay

    Or look at a creation that

    Some artist has made

    Don’t Thank God or some

    Muse who never cared anyways

    Just blame

    Extraordinary amounts

    Of caffeine

    Of coffee

    And when they say

    To you you’re shaking

    Or a bit overly excited

    Say to them what needs to

    Be said very quickly

    Like

    Why am I this way?

    Because

    Fuk em.

    I’m a coffee messiah

    That’s right

    And like all the other

    Coffee addicts

    We are here to fight evil,

    Read books &

    Save this fucked up world

    And write –

    Until there’s no more

    Coffee

    Left

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt

    ®2025

  • REDEMPTION MAYBE?

    REDEMPTION MAYBE?

    All the scientists &
    Astro Physicists say
    It’s the size of
    Manhattan

    A giant rock
    Flying towards us
    At 130,000 miles
    Per hour

    Others say it’s
    An alien spacecraft
    Stopping by for coffee
    And cigarettes or to
    Enslave us which in
    These times would actually be
    An improvement

    The people are angry

    The people are bored

    The people want something
    New to worship or ponder upon
    Because humanity

    (Is now at its worst)

    Some
    Even say it’s Jesus
    Coming back because
    He’s had enough of our
    Constant immature
    Bullshit

    Cruising towards us
    In what looks like is
    A giant turd of redemption
    Saving souls
    Saving America
    And coming to arrest
    Trump & his administration
    And put them all in an
    Intergalactic zoo
    As universal examples
    Of an experiment

    “Failed”

    So let’s all hope
    That it’s an asteroid
    Coming to wipe us all
    Out like the dinosaurs
    Because
    We all need another shot

    Another chance
    To fuck it all up
    Again 100,000 years
    From now

    From the remements
    Of another failed
    Civilization
    Who never learned
    From their own

    Mistakes

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • PRAYER. A POEM

    PRAYER. A POEM

    PRAYER

    I saw a man
    Kneeling & praying
    On the corner of
    Purgatory Street &
    Salvation Ave wearing
    An American flag like
    A shawl to protect him
    From evil

    I saw a man in
    Utah pouring out
    Hate to a crowd of young
    Students pretending
    To be a good Christian
    Man

    Interrupted

    I’ve seen wars
    And bullets screaming
    And ripping through
    The bodies the flesh of human
    Beings both good &
    Evil, children in far
    Away countries &
    Only a few miles away
    From the safety of suburbia

    And either way?

    They all die

    For the bullet knows
    Nothing about discrimination
    The gun, knows even less

    Knows nothing about racism
    Money or greed or the color
    Of anyone’s skin

    And kills everyone equally

    Without remorse
    Or mercy

    I saw a man kneeling
    On the corner of Purgatory
    And Salvation praying
    In an American flag

    He poured gasoline
    All over himself
    And then set himself on fire
    Screaming his final words

    Love is Dead

    And we’re all going to hell

    Create heaven now

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • WE NEED MORE HEROES

    WE NEED MORE HEROES

    WE NEED MORE HEROES 

    Perhaps

    We’ve gone

    Too far

    Perhaps 

    We haven’t gone

    Far enough 

    When we were

    Children we all thought 

    That the future 

    Would be brighter

    TV shows with

    Heroes & flying cars

    On giant spaceships 

    On some voyage 

    In outer space 

    Spreading our beliefs

    Our ideas of freedom 

    To galaxies far far

    Away 

    Saving other 

    Races, saving people

    Saving the day

    But now?

    Here we are 

    Living in a future 

    That’s been fucked up

    And moving backwards 

    Back to violence 

    Back to demented psychopaths 

    Back to Nazi Germany 

    Back to hate

    And all those beautiful 

    Ideas, fantasy & science fiction 

    Laid to waste

    America 

    Once the place 

    Where we all saw

    As a beacon of hope

    A hero among heroes

    Lighting the way

    But now?

    All we see is a worthless monster 

    Leading other cowardly monsters

    Into the mouth of hell

    Using all the things 

    That once made freedom 

    Beautiful against it’s own

    People

    Twisting them

    To their own needs

    But the question is

    What can we all do? 

    What can we all say?

    There must be a solution 

    And a way to stop them

    Forever 

    So once again 

    We must ask real heroes

    Real human beings to step up

    Without Fear

    And fight

    With honor

    With courage 

    With pride & the belief

    That we can all become

    That dream again

    For in the end?

    We all know the truth

    The secret

    That monsters are and

    Always will be far weaker

    Than men

    Who care about money

    And power 

    More than other human 

    Beings or their country 

    For America 

    Isn’t America 

    Without a dream

    Where all are created equal 

    And where diversity & Intelligence 

    Lives

    And where greed, destruction 

    Lies and monsters

    Sick billionaires 

    Get locked in cages

    Of their own making

    So there is no 

    Other choice 

    We need 

    More heroes

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt ©2025

  • ADVICE ON BECOMING UN-AMERICAN

    ADVICE ON BECOMING UN-AMERICAN

    Step One:

    Become a spirit vanishing from sight

    Step Two:

    Say nothing.
    Do nothing.

    And let all the monsters take over

    Ignore violence. Ignore the cries of
    Children being separated from their mothers

    Families

    Three:

    Turn off the real news
    Ignore the fake news

    Stop giving a shit about everything
    Everyone

    No empathy. No human soul

    Or emotion

    Step Four:

    Ignore the takeover
    Ignore your arrest on no charges
    Ignore you & your family being thrown
    Into prisons like concentration camps
    And ignore the suffering of all these atrocities

    And then happily, take a boot to the face

    And Finally, Step Five.

    Die an unremarkable, unremembered death &
    Let them incinerate your body, your spirit

    Into the nothing that you stood for

    Because you did nothing, said nothing

    And deserved it.

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025