R.M. ENGELHARDT

Poet Writer Author Albany NY

  • WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR OUR COUNTRY

    Some poet
    Once said that
    When life fails
    Write poetry

    But that poet
    Didn’t even imagine
    A future as grim
    As now

    And another poet
    Said that poetry saves
    You

    Right before he
    Realized that poetry
    Couldn’t save his country

    From monsters
    From backwards
    Racist fools &
    The dregs of humanity

    Realizing

    That you can’t make
    The world a better place

    When nobody cares

    But if there is one thing
    One act, one last meaningful
    Non violent gesture that someone
    Can do ?

    Before either being
    Shot or tackled by
    Security?

    Is to jump
    Donald Trump &
    Wedgie him
    In front of millions
    On national
    TV

    Making him
    An even bigger
    Joke than he
    Already

    Is

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • WHY I HATE POETRY WORKSHOPS 

    WHY I HATE POETRY WORKSHOPS 

    I don’t like to tell a lot

    Of people this but to 

    Write Poetry many years ago

    I sold my

    Soul to the devil at

    The crossroads 

    Y’see 

    I tried to write

    But everything rhymed I

    Had a hard time believing 

    That I could ever truly write or ever 

    Become a famous poet

    So one night just like Robert Johnson 

    I walked down to crossroads and

    Summoned him with a spell

    And then?

    He appeared 

    And he looked alot like a 

    Bad shitty Wish version of some goth 

    Elon Musk in a cheap red suit

    Which was really disappointing 

    And so there we both stood

    Across from each other in 

    A strange silence and in an 

    Awkward younger voice I asked;

    So?

    Do I sign some sort of 

    Contract in blood?

    He smiled smugly 

    And then said:

    YES !

    And then he rolled out the long

    Contract in Latin with an

    X at the bottom 

    Sign Here … He said

    Pricking my finger with

    A sharp old calligraphy pen

    And I signed

    And the devil

    Still smiling smugly 

    Just stood there in silence again

    So I tried with this new demonic power

    To create an amazing poem on the spot

    But what came out was like

    Some horribly sick weird version 

    Of a poem that sounded like

    A cross between Nine Inch Nails 

    & Robert Frost

    And still

    Satan smiled

    And upset I said,

    But I thought that by selling my 

    Soul I would immediately be able to create 

    Amazing poems like Baudelaire 

    Or Rimbaud !

    So what the fuck is this?!

    You lied!

    Then

    The devil laughed and 

    Said :

    Oh no

    Don’t worry you will someday 

    But Poetry takes a lot of practice 

    In fact I run a weekly 

    Poetry Workshop 

    We’ll start on Sunday night !

    The Granny’s are gonna love YOU!

    Thanks for joining!

    And then with an

    Evil sinister bad guy echo laugh

    He screamed ” Welcome To Hell!”

    And then disappeared 

    In flames

    And now?

    Whenever my life ends

    My soul will go to hell

    Where 

    For an eternity I 

    Will be in torture

    Forced to teach poetry

    Workshops

    To other souls of the damned

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt 

    ©2024

  • poetry is For Everyone or A New Vision is Needed Now

    The ongoing problem with most American poetry & poets today is their lack of belief in themselves & that they don’t expand upon their ideals or experiment enough with their craft. That’s why we are all stuck in the same old literary grind & groove still pushing out old ideas, listening to ridiculous banter of egotistical critics & still worshipping the old schools & movements of long past yesterdays from decades ago. Dead icons, dead ideas, dead slams and an established academic system that’s biased and too busy promoting all the cliche events that they believe are all about community but mainly promoting their own of which are not open to all poets without degrees but mostly only to students & the inner sanctum. Poetry is for everyone and it needs a new vision of our times. The 21st century. The majority of poets who are producing new & original works are being ignored. Poetry should be independent and free of bias and uncategorized. Workshops or classes are not the solution.

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt Writer Poet Author #deadmanspressink #poetryisforeveryone

  • BONE UPON NERVE

    BONE UPON NERVE

    The
    Reality
    Of Life
    Is A Back Injury
    That Doesn’t Stop
    Screaming As You
    Try Moving Forward
    Into The Next Sunrise
    Knocking You
    Out Like A Heavyweight
    Fighter Each Day

    So You Say:

    “Fuck That”

    And Crawl Up
    Off The Mat
    Saying

    “C’mon “

    You Can Do Better
    Than That

    “Bitch “

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • BUKOWSKI WOULDN’T BOTHER

    BUKOWSKI WOULDN’T BOTHER

    Social Media?

    Politics?

    Who gives a shit?

    Bukowski wouldn’t bother

    But even though he’s
    Getting attacked
    Even though he’s bone dry dead
    In fact he’d probably just
    Laugh and give them all
    The finger

    And go back to drinking
    His beer

    But since he’s been gone
    The world has gone insane
    He’d see psychopaths &
    Whack jobs and drama on
    The scene

    Where all of his ideology
    His vision of beauty in the
    Ordinary has all but disappeared

    And he would see a world
    Full of backstabbing
    Pop culture ass-kissing
    Disappointment

    Writers & poets
    Angry & jealous
    Vicious & unseen
    Trying to make their
    Way through the ranks
    By posting memes just
    To get your attention

    The flow of their words
    Drifting off into cyberspace

    Unremarkable
    Unremembered

    So strangely enough
    He’s most likely off
    Somewhere in the afterlife

    Drinking & happy that
    He lived in the very last
    Days

    Where true words
    True writing no matter
    How honest or obscene

    Touched someone
    Else’s life in cheap
    Old paperback

    And were actually
    Loved & read

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • IN YOUR NEXT LIFE

    Reincarnation
    Is REAL !

    Except

    It’s not what
    Your expecting

    Or some
    Invitation to
    Heaven

    Because
    We all come back

    As Squirrels

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • NERO’S PSYCHOLOGIST

    I don’t have anymore
    Time to waste on Nero

    He’s a hopeless case
    A delusional lunatic
    With teen-age boy fans
    Wearing ugly red hats
    With 3rd grade education levels
    Of intelligence & no teeth
    Angry because their lives
    Amounted to nothing

    And somehow
    He gets all his rich
    Friends to pay for
    His sessions, crimes & actions

    With threats & hate

    Treating him like
    A baby who soils
    Himself frequently

    Taking Actions
    Like sad parents
    Trying to cover
    Up & bury his behavior
    Like a pile of dog shit
    In the park

    Blind fools
    Who’ve watched
    Too many reality
    TV shows & who
    Are maladjusted
    To what’s sanity

    Fucked eternally
    In the head & now
    Damaged for life

    So No.

    I don’t have anymore
    Time to waste on Nero

    There’s no cure
    For this case

    No redemption
    For his crimes

    My diagnosis is that
    They should chain him
    In a dark basement
    Without food, water
    Or interaction and let
    Nature take its course

    A professional
    And wise decision
    For a secure humanity

    A secure world

    Because on the sofa
    All he talks about is
    Himself, burning down
    Cities & taking revenge

    And once?

    When asked about
    His consequences he
    Said ” I AM GOD” and
    EVERYTHING belongs
    To ME

    IT’S MINE!

    Laughing about
    How he owns everything
    & everyone as he slurred & drooled
    His words and rambled on
    Endlessly about other
    Human beings of different
    Races & immigrants being
    If less value than others

    And
    As a psychologist
    I’ve only seen a case
    Like this once before :

    In a patient
    Named Adolph Hitler

    Who had a fetish
    For burning things

    Like people
    Human beings

    So I don’t have anymore
    Time to waste on Nero

    And it’s my prognosis is
    That we all get the fuck
    Outta this place

    Before it’s too late

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • INTERREGNUM

    INTERREGNUM

    One man

    Changes the world

    With a bullet
    Violence, lies
    & hate

    And another?

    Perhaps, even a woman

    Changes the world

    With truth & wisdom
    And ideas

    And in the in-between

    In the middle ground

    Is that place

    Where

    There is a no room for chaos
    But there is only a place for peace

    A place for love

    But not for war

    Or death

    Or race

    But that’s
    Your choice
    As a human being

    But it is not your
    Choice to choose what
    Religion or freedoms
    Other people should have

    Nor is it your choice
    How they should worship
    Or who they should be

    Who they should love
    Or what they should say

    For freedom
    Is a sacred

    Thing

    Not a right

    But a gift

    Given to you
    By all of those soldiers, ancestors
    Who stood side by side

    And shed their blood

    And once it’s gone

    Your right to choose who
    You are or what you believe in

    Gets destroyed
    & burned down &
    Burned away

    By the monster that
    You trusted

    To save you

    Worshipping
    Blindly

    You?

    Still believing
    Asking for

    The Truth

    But there is no
    Returning from that
    Place

    Known by many
    Who all worship
    Different gods

    As hell

    So in that middle ground
    In that last moment of silence

    You should think about
    All those you love

    And all those

    That you will

    Lose

    Before it’s far too late

    For tomorrow
    Will never come
    Again

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • A POEM AT MIDNIGHT BEFORE WE LEAVE

    A POEM AT MIDNIGHT
    BEFORE WE LEAVE

    On a cold
    November night

    Off in the distance
    I can hear the crickets
    & the frogs, the small fox &
    It’s baby run across
    The front lawn

    Into the brush

    It’s most near to solitude
    Even heaven perhaps

    Smoking my last
    Cigarette of the day
    As the moon hangs
    Overhead

    Questioning
    Our existence

    Our souls

    And then?

    I ponder
    Reflect upon
    The lives that we
    Shall live once we
    Leave this broken place

    A nightmare

    An America

    No longer free
    But a killing zone
    A prison created by
    Lesser men

    Controlled by lunatics &
    Billionaires

    Cowards & sellouts

    A graveyard
    Without any humanity

    Left

    The smell of
    Dead animals &
    Death spreading
    Across the land

    Like hate

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

  • ASSASSINATION DAY

    ASSASSINATION DAY

    This is what
    Happens when
    Social Media
    Divides humanity
    Creates fodder for
    The storm &
    Influences the young
    Who do not understand
    The true reality of their
    Consequences

    Perhaps
    Special needs

    Not a hero
    Just a kid

    Perhaps
    Sees the classic
    Villain on a TV
    Screen

    But the
    Villain is real
    This is not a
    Movie or a repeat or
    A video game

    The false messiah?
    The false victim?

    His lies
    His hate
    Screaming
    And tearing a
    Hole in the fabric
    Of democracy

    Our world

    This is not Kennedy, Lincoln
    Or Julius Caesar, Gandhi,
    Ronald Reagan or
    Martin Luther King

    By far

    This is not
    A reality TV show
    But a nightmare
    Living now

    A bystander
    An innocent

    Dead

    And now
    The grifter
    The monster
    Uses the shock
    Sorrow & situation
    At hand

    To make himself
    A false hand, protected
    By some God

    Using the same
    Tools that influenced
    Some sad mentally challenged
    20 year old child with a rifle

    To spread more lies
    To the masses

    Not giving
    A single shit

    Not one

    About
    Who dies
    To make him
    Forever

    “Great”

    His weapon?

    The media

    Far more powerful
    Than any loaded

    Gun.

    ~ R.M. Engelhardt
    ©2024

    “What concerns me is that man, unable to articulate, to express himself adequately, reverts to action. Since the vocabulary of action is limited, as it were, to his body, he is bound to act violently, extending his vocabulary with a weapon . . .”

    ― Joseph Brodsky