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

  • R.M. Engelhardt ETC ETC ETC

    DM du Jour's avatarDM du Jour


     
     

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  • Remember

    C__Data_Users_DefApps_AppData_INTERNETEXPLORER_Temp_Saved Images_tumblr_o4q1cplvo01qgqg2oo1_400.jpg“Remember: vividness, lucidity, momentum. A poem should not resemble ‘poetry’ too closely. The first impulse on reading a true poem is almost awkward. Lines should not be anticipated nor should a line be diffuse unless it conceals a jolt. Some sort of unexampled tension, not necessarily to be resolved, is characteristic of good poems. And not merely a tension purely of language but in the objects and their emotional equivalents. if a single line is to serve as a fulcrum it must be doubly sharp, hard and lucid. The whole point about a short lyric is to make the moment durable.”

    Jim Harrison, from “A Natural History of Some Poems,” Just Before Dark:

  • The Bones of Our Existence

    nateragolia's avatarBoned

    by R. M. Engelhardt

    2606021092_c527e33abc_b.jpg Photo by Martin Cathrae via Flickr. Creative Commons: Some rights reserved.

    If there’s an archaeology of the book, then the beginnings are deep under the surface, 
    under the soil. 

    ~ J.M. Cortez

    Every moment cannot be the poem
    No matter what the poets say
    Just like the idea of black & white
    Everything is gray
    We are cities of words we are
    Oceans made of language & voices
    We are merely the beginning
    But always the end
    We are the stories told & handed
    Down from one generation
    To the next
    The bones of our own existence
    The chance to start again
    Without any heroes or myths
    But with beauty, love, grace
    And compassion
    A story worthy
    Of being
    Alive

    R.M. Engelhardt is a veteran poet & writer whose work over the years has appeared in many journals & magazines such as Dry Land Lit, Rusty…

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  • Mustache Quote

    STACHE 2000.jpgThe great ages of prose are the ages in which men shave. The great ages of poetry are those in which they allow their beards to grow.

    ~Robert Lynd

  • A Winters’ Tale

    C__Data_Users_DefApps_AppData_INTERNETEXPLORER_Temp_Saved Images_15110846_1254903561227693_5052654562430728868_o.jpgA WINTERS TALE

    In the evening
    The early morning
    This small world
    Exists in silence

    Just the wind
    The snow envelops
    All lights & this city

    And the earth
    Has momentarily
    Ceased

    Traveled back in
    Time before man
    Ran the show

    The trees
    Don’t seem
    To care

    I breathe in
    The dark and
    Breathe out
    The daylight

    And the earth
    Returns again

    Awakes to
    The sounds of
    Birds, machinery
    And church bells

    Perhaps

    This is the
    Closest we ever
    Get to heaven

    Perhaps

    These are
    The last moments
    Of a sacred God
    Who is no longer

    Aware

  • The February Troy Poetry Mission: Annie Christain

  • POETS & WRITERS STAND AGAINST TRUMP 01.20.2017 AT 8PM

    POETS & WRITERS STAND AGAINST TRUMP 01.20.2017 AT 8PM

     

     

    POETS & WRITERS STAND AGAINST TRUMP
    POETS & WRITERS STAND AGAINST TRUMP  : JANUARY 20th, 2017 AT 8PM

    On Friday, January 20th Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as The President of the United States of America.

    This will be a very sad day indeed. And as poets and writers everywhere we need to speak up and say what needs to be said, and share those words with our nation and the world.

    So here’s what we do.

    At EXACTLY 8pm on the evening of Friday, January 20th I’m asking all my friends and fellow writers and poets to simultaneously all post a poem or prose piece against the election and presidency of Trump. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress …

    EVERYWHERE.

    That’s it, that’s all we need to do but we must all be united in this protest.

    No matter who you are, what country, what race or what nationality this is the moment to Stand Against Trump.

    All I ask?

    Tag the bottom of your posts with these words that say we stand together.

    #poetsandwritersstandagainsttrump

    #westandagainstthispresident

    Please join me, spread the word and invite all other writers and poets.

    Join Us On Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/events/1633551503613211/1633847540250274/?notif_t=admin_plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1484335784769388


    Thank you.

    R.M. Engelhardt

  • Death Is Open For Business

    Death Is Open For Business

    DEATH IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

    First?

    I stopped by for Emily
    And then for all her friends
    Sometimes (over the years)
    I still forget all their
    Names

    Writers, poets
    Actors & the commonplace
    Of sorts, and the royalty always
    Received special discounts
    And deals

    You see you might know me
    I’ve been doing this for awhile
    I used to keep scrolls
    But now that’s just embarrassing
    So I just use my phone
    And everybody still
    Knows my name
    Maybe you’ve seen my
    Profile on FB?
    All the people
    Talking about me

    Damn .. I’m really popular

    Because
    Black is out and
    Neon is in
    I started the trend
    By the way

    And all the celebrities
    Are just dying to
    See me as always

    So if you’re a famous
    Rockstar please don’t
    Message me or text me
    I’m quite busy

    And I don’t do
    Crossroads pacts
    Anymore
    I only accept straight up cash

    With no middle men

    And these days
    As you may have
    Already guessed
    I only  mostly deal directly with
    Businessman & politicians

    So got a problem?
    Wanna be the president?
    I’m willing to cut you
    A deal

    Btw? Did I mention
    I’m on FB?

    I’ve traded in my
    Scythe for a credit card
    Of souls and I
    Make my withdrawals
    Daily

    So are you next
    On my list?

    Wouldn’t you like to be?

    What?
    The Reaper?
    Pllllleeeeaaasssse …
    I don’t go by that
    Old fashioned name
    Anymore

    It’s been overused
    Blue Oyster Cult & their more cowbell
    Saw to that

    Nope.

    Nowadays
    I simply call myself
    An extraordinary broker
    Of souls

    (So let’s talk)

    Because death
    Is open for business

    So
    Here’s my card
    Expect my call
    I’ll be waiting
    To meet you

    Eventually
    Everyone does

     

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt 2017deathinbusiness

  • an appreciation of Wallace Stevens

    an appreciation of Wallace Stevens

    Spectral Lyre's avatarSpectral Lyre

    I wonder where Wallace Stevens came from? Born in 1879 to conventional parents in Reading, Pennsylvania, he attended Harvard for three years after high school; eventually, he got a job with an insurance company in New York, later ending up in Connecticut. My wondering has little or nothing to do with genealogy and geography. So where did he come from?

    What early concoction of abstract elixirs settled into such a perspective as his, that state of powerful poetic ambivalence? As a boy, did Stevens stand transfixed while watching a hi-wheel cyclist in magical balance between the horizontal and the vertical, gravity and will, substance and imagination, mechanics and wonder?

    Bicyclist-Frank-Lenz

    Is it surprising that his later, regular profession had to do with actuarial uncertainty?

    Stevens’s soul was dialectical. On the one hand, he pointed with astonishment toward the fact of nature — forms and substances. That great fact is something almost…

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  • Old Angel Midnight Kerouac

    Jack Kerouac