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
  • HAPPINESS ISN’T FREE

    HAPPINESS ISN’T FREE

    HAPPINESS ISN’T FREE

    So let’s just say it :

    Alot of people here & now
    Don’t believe that they need
    To even lift a finger or write
    A letter, contribute to the cause
    Or even pay attention to what’s
    Going on right outside their door

    Say, for instance
    Like a dictatorship or
    A Nazi takeover, or even a
    Deranged lunatic destroying
    Their own country

    Piece by piece

    Because they
    In their own blind
    Stupidity believe as always

    That somebody else will save them
    And that It’s somebody else’s job

    To fix it all

    Yep

    These are usually the same
    People the same idiots who
    Ignore everything else out
    There as well

    Like causes like deaths
    Like children & like animals
    All dying or murdered

    Or like war or starvation & even their own
    Children

    Playing in the street

    Unwatched

    Riding their bikes in traffic
    Every single day

    Never caring
    Never giving
    Never growing
    Never owning
    Up to

    The burden of humanity
    In the here and now

    That’s in dread
    In fear

    & Is asking
    For your help

    Ignoring gunshots nearby
    Or twenty kids kicking one
    Kid hard, broken and bleeding

    On the ground

    But nevermind

    Keep driving right on by

    Or maybe seeing or
    Ignoring the homeless
    Guy on the corner

    Who was once a soldier
    In a foreign war

    Looking for some change
    Getting arrested

    For doing nothing wrong

    But no

    You’re not getting involved
    No way

    Not interested in
    Caring about the world around you

    So you go on social media
    Or watch Fox News

    Because you don’t have any mind
    Anymore and because it’s easier
    To believe in monsters who are taking
    Over thinking that they’ll take care of
    Your sorry unwiped uncaring asses

    And a dictatorship?

    Nooooooooo ….

    Who cares right?

    Because I’m sure that that fat orange businessman
    In office from that Apprentice show
    Won’t ever hurt me or comeafter me

    So I’m not worried at all

    Or give a damn about it

    Because all those God damn tree huggers & animal lovers and protesters
    Are the ones that should be afraid

    Spouting nonsense like
    Freedom and freedom of speech !

    Human rights!

    Hippies!
    Libtards!

    And It’s all your fault
    Because the news says so

    So Screw Em’

    Because

    I’m right

    I’m right

    I’m right wing and …

    The next day you
    Receive a call telling you
    That your federal job is
    No longer something needed

    And that your office
    Has been permanently

    Closed

    And due to the president’s
    Actions there’s no more poverty assistance

    And due to his actions no more free food
    And no unemployment help

    So eventually

    You lose your car
    You lose your house
    You lose your wife
    You lose yourself

    With
    No more electrity
    To watch the bullshit news
    No more spare change
    To buy yourself some food

    And now you live out on
    The streets

    With no healthcare
    And no one who will look
    At you or even give you a dollar

    Unwashed & with no more
    Notions of some loving
    Christian faith

    Still believing in every single
    Word a rich billionaire who
    Now has all your money

    Says

    And then?

    One-day the truth finally
    Strikes you

    And you realize that the
    Bastard that you voted for
    Is the reason your life sucks

    And that happiness isn’t free

    Just before you jump
    Off a ten story building
    To your own unnoticed death

    That Fox News didn’t
    Think was important enough

    To cover anyways

    Too busy announcing
    Some great new tremendous
    Employment rates

    That actually
    Don’t exist

    And never
    Will

    In a country
    That you helped

    To destroy

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • ALL GRAVES ARE COLD

    ALL GRAVES ARE COLD

    This
    Isn’t a poem

    This isn’t even a work
    Of fiction

    This is stark reality bleeding out non-stop screaming

    And this isn’t a phone recorded message on social media

    For It’s the one thing we all know, all think
    but never dare say.

    Mostly out of fear.

    it’s all the shit rolling downhill until the monsters open fire or we see California secede and more troops sent in.

    And Peaceful Protestors aren’t prepared for that and they are obviously going to be out manned and have no weapons. And then?

    Even the police will run.

    Protect & serve

    So we are talking about a slaughter house.

    A massacre. Not a skirmish. Not a battle.
    Not some noble war.

    And that’s WHAT HE WANTS.

    Turning peaceful protesters into criminals stating, lying as usual and pathetically telling half a blind, gullible nation :

    “THEY STARTED IT”

    Honesty Hurts. Truth Has No Censorship.

    And Psychopaths Have No Conscience.

    All talk is bullshit . All talk is bravado.

    And in the end?

    All graves are cold.

    So do these words make you feel uncomfortable?

    They should.

    For these are the words no one wants to hear and a reality no one wants to accept.

    So let’s all hope the author is wrong.

    Because after all?
    What will you do about it anyways?

    Get angry?

    Or write another poem?

    ~ Anonymous

    ®2025

  • THEIR DAY IS COMING

    THEIR DAY IS COMING

    I
    Patiently
    Smoke my
    Cigarette
    And quietly

    Wait

    Because
    In reality
    In mourning
    That’s all a man
    Can do

    In times
    Like these

    My age
    Doesn’t matter
    My weapons
    Don’t matter but
    My voice?

    Still
    Matters

    Even though
    They have tried
    Time & time
    Again to drown
    It out

    For the secret
    That most people
    On the wrong side of
    History don’t
    Understand is
    That Poetry & Words
    Are the most indestructible
    Most powerful weapons
    On earth

    Stronger than a
    Gun or a bomb
    Strong enough to lay
    Waste to a fascist regime
    With the wave of my soul

    Powerful enough to
    Target monsters

    And turn them

    Into ash

    So I
    Quietly smoke
    My cigarette

    And simply wait
    Simply write

    With a seven hundred thousand
    Other voices on my side

    Who have my back

    For I am no man
    I am destruction
    I am peace

    And even
    After I die by
    The end of a rope
    Or by a bullet

    Those words
    Will avenge me
    Avenge us

    And even if it
    Takes years or
    Centuries

    Will decimate my
    Enemies

    With HOPE

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • IN A WORLD OF SORROW

    IN A WORLD OF SORROW

    “There’s nothing we can do”

    So many people, moving
    Back & forth saying
    These things to themselves
    To get through the day

    Going to work
    Turning on the television
    Turning it off

    Going
    To sleep

    Feeling helpless

    Broken

    Lost

    Asking;

    Where are all our heroes
    Where is our God ?

    Not realizing that
    In a world of sorrow
    That they are the heroes
    We need to stand up

    And fight

    For you can’t just
    Do nothing

    You can’t just believe
    That someone else
    Will fix this planet

    Save a country
    Or save the animals
    Save our children or even

    Save ourselves

    And perhaps you are
    Angry, perhaps you are
    Sad that it’s all come down
    To this

    But you can no longer avoid
    The truth or ignore it all

    Anymore

    No one
    Is coming
    To save you

    No one is everyone
    And now we must
    All be one

    Together

    Undivided

    Without a promise
    Or guarantee
    That we will win

    For in the end

    The only thing we
    Have is each other

    The only thing that
    We have that binds
    Us together

    Is Love

    And nothing more

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • When The Clock Breaks

    WHEN THE CLOCK BREAKS

    How times change
    But stay the same

    Places & people gone but still sharing
    Space in our memories & dreams.

    Lovers leaving lovers meet.
    Some marry,some saying oh no,

    (not me)

    Believing they’ll just find
    Another heart to break

    The clock of youth ticking away

    Tick Tock Tick Tock

    Tick …

    Too late.

    Too late

    Too late

    Now the final hour
    Where the clock breaks

    Without a sound
    Or a warning

    Asking

    Who made this place or
    Allowed these things
    To happen anyways?

    It all went by too soon

    Too soon for me

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • Be You

    Be You

    Human beings are not placed here on earth to be citizens or taxpayers, or socially engineered pawns of other human beings; rather they are here in order to grow, to transform, to become their authentic selves.

    Remember to BE YOU.

  • POETS IN THE SUMMER

    POETS IN THE SUMMER

    POETS IN THE SUMMER

    Sittin ‘ outside on the terrace
    Drinking hot coffee & chain
    Smoking just lookin at his
    Phone in 90 degree weather

    The neighbors ask?

    Is he insane?
    Is he crazy?

    Damn.

    What’s wrong with
    That guy ?

    Just
    Sittin ‘ outside on the terrace
    Drinking hot coffee & chain
    Smoking just lookin at his
    Phone in 90 degree weather

    That’s easy

    He’s a writer

    Looking for the quiet
    Outside looking for
    Inspiration within

    Something all you
    ” Normal” folk with
    Your fancy backyard pools
    Wouldn’t understand

    That poetry
    Withstands the
    Elements of time

    Without
    Air conditioning

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025

  • Unrest In The House Of Light

    Unrest In The House Of Light

    UNREST IN THE HOUSE OF LIGHT

    Perhaps when we get through this,
    When it’s all finally over then maybe
    As a country and as a people and even
    As a world we will fix all his wrongs &
    Make better rights. If this all right now
    Isn’t teaching us what was missing or
    What we’ve taken for granted before
    Then most likely nothing will

    We, the people are the Real Americans
    The real voices of change.

    And it’s TIME.

    ~ R M. Engelhardt ©2025

  • NO KINGS Poetry Book Review 2025

    1. Print length148 pages
    2. LanguageEnglish
    3. Publication dateApril 14, 2025
    4. Reading age17 – 18 years
    5. Dimensions8.25 x 0.53 x 11 inches
    6. ISBN-13979-8319446299

    Book overview

    NO KINGS

    Is A Book Of Poetry By R.M. Engelhardt That Crosses & Annihilates Their False Government Line And Is Most Likely To Get Burned, Buried Or Censored. And Surely It Does Not Meet The Approval Of The Heritage Project.

    Nor Should It.

    Offensive, Truthful & Even Beautiful At Times R.M. Engelhardt Captures These Days Of Being Real Americans And Says The Words & Supports The Voices Of All We Want To Say But Are Afraid To Say Even In Protest. So Let These Poems Ring True And Hit Hard Against Fascists, Dictators And Their Supporters. This Book Is Not Just Political But Also Contains Poems Of Loss, Beauty, Memory And Even Our Common Sadness & Anger. Outspoken, It Evokes The Power Of Words Against An Enemy In Our Own Backyard. Decimates White Supremacists, Billionaires & Those Who Would Erase The Contributions Of A Diverse Civilization In The Name Of Greed & In The Name Of A False Manufactured Media God.

    But It Doesn’t Stop Just There ~

    American Poet & Writer R.M. Engelhardt ( The Author of The Resurrection Waltz, DarkLands & The Bones of Our Existence 2046) Is pushing the limits of literature in a time when small press poetry is a truly dangerous and being a poet is a dangerous profession. And fear is not going to stop writers & poets from using freedom of speech and free expression. Ever.

    This is the 21st century.

    POETRY IS RESISTANCE

    https://a.co/d/f1GBwhL

  • IN THE DAYS OF AMERICAN OBLIVION

    IN THE DAYS OF
    AMERICAN OBLIVION

    I try to avoid
    The news

    I try
    Not to believe
    What’s happening

    But cannot

    In a place
    We call the
    Land of the free

    But we ask
    Where are the brave?

    A place
    Where people
    Are being arrested
    For merely protesting

    Or for fighting back

    Where Nazi like
    Groups in red hats
    Are even allowed
    On our streets supported
    By a false leader

    As our ancestors
    Who fought for
    Freedom of speech &
    America against
    Dictators & monsters

    Turn over
    In their graves

    So I try to
    Avoid the news

    But can’t

    For these are dark times

    Living in the days
    Of oblivion

    For this is not
    America

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2025