POEM OF THE CENTURY
Secretly
I am quietly writing
Working on the
Poem of the century
The 21st
That is
And No
It won’t be epic
Say like The Wasteland
Or Howl
Disturbing the order
Of conformity
Creating chaos
Or change
It won’t be over one page long
Or able to fit in a pretty
Instagram picture
And it certainly won’t be
Posted in a group on Facebook
Tattered & Torn
And ripped apart by
Grammer Nazis
And wannabe critics
Who will find
It is far too complicated
To even
Fathom
Or understand
And it won’t be written
Made to pander, perform or scream
For all the neighborhood kids
Still doing backyard slams
In high school gymnastics
Thinking they’ve won
Something they never won
Or lost
For it does not fit their
Idea of a what a poem
Is supposed to be
Sound like
Beyond their idealism
Or imagination
Lacking all the pure drama
And ordinary clarity of using
Foul fucking language
Or overused gimmicks
About a girlfriend a boyfriend
A self declaration of self selfie
Behold the power of ME
Me Me Me or
Word ?
No
This poem must be, will be
Different
This poem must be
Genius
This poem must be
Saying everything
And saying nothing
At all
Completely
Absolutely
So
Secretly
I am quietly writing
Working on the
Poem of the century
The 21st century
That is
Isn’t
A poem on a blank
Page perhaps
Or deep unexplainable emptiness
Or loss
And a grief that
No one sees
Or even notices
Because
There is no more left
To say except
So far this century
Has only been about
Shallowness, selfishness &
Virtual reality
An overexagerated pop
Culture overload
& the karmic return of
All the useless shit
Hate & apathy and the
Silence of fear
And pure undoing
That we thought
We had all already
Overcome
In the past
So I am writing the
Poem of the century
This masterpiece
A facade
Which will capture the
Complete & defining essence
Of America
The obvious
The lack of humanity
The times
Without a true conscience
Or simple grace
And it will be
Something more
Something less
Something else
And more fake news
That nobody
Really wants to
Hear
Or read
In the end
So
Here now
And for generations
To come
May I introduce :
The greatest
Poem of The 21st Century
A poem & generation
With nothing at all
To say
That truly mattered.
~ R.M. Engelhardt
©2025 From ” NO KINGS MF POEMS”
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON
