R M Engelhardt Quotes

“Poetry Is The Language Of Mysticism &
Discourse. It Is The Whisper In The Dark,
The Shadow In The Light. Poetry Is An Incantation From The Depths Of Your Very Soul.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Resurrection Waltz Poems R.M. Engelhardt

“When someone steals your original ideas? Feel sorry for them.
When someone steals your thunder or applause? Feel sorry for them.
When someone doesn't support your dreams or work ?

Feel sorry for them.

But when someone steals your truth, your voice, your heart or your words?

Feel truly sorry for them

And then kick their ass.
It's yours.

Because you've been way too fucking polite.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Resurrection Waltz

“Poetry in any language old or new is the voice us all. A reflection of humanity. Even perhaps a note, a prayer, a mantra or a sign to future generations telling them tomorrow holds what today has lost. Through these voices find yourself”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Bones of Our Existence, A Journal 2046

“On Social Media people always seem to appear and then disappear. Befriend you as a writer perhaps because they think that you can just help them reach their goals or just maybe because they've heard of you. On some? Like on Instagram? Follow you and then unfollow you in their own shallow pathetic pursuit of looking popular. Not giving two shits about you or have any real interest in your actual work. Once upon a time that used to really bother me because they obviously lack authenticity & any manners. But after thirty some years of writing & publishing and creating and actually earning all of the merits and being myself, being true to the words and all the poetry that is the only real thing that truly matters? I simply say to all of them.

Fuck you. I'm R.M. Engelhardt

And if you haven't heard of me or read any of my work then obviously you don't really know much about poetry”
― R.M. Engelhardt, WHERE THERE IS NO VISION POEMS 2020 R.M. ENGELHARDT

“A smoke before sleep. The uncounted hours of unremembered dreams. Those of a new awaking in a new time and place.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, COFFEE ASS BLUES & OTHER POEMS

“In the end we're all on a journey of sorts.
We wait for a sign or something that attracts our attention. Look for a deeper meaning to it all. That's what poetry is for.

Searching.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Last Cigarette: The Collected Poems Of R.M. Engelhardt 1989-2006

“These days long lost too late.

We see the changes for the best or worst.
Hold onto memory wrapped up like a blanket around us.

Live without fear.
Do not let the sun set one day without showing or
experiencing true gratitude or love. Do not walk in the shadows of the past.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, COFFEE ASS BLUES & OTHER POEMS

“There is no revolution.
There is no shallow fame.

There is only being true to
Yourself & your art.

To write or create
You must be a real human being
Or it's garbage”
― R.M. Engelhardt, R A W POEMS R.M. ENGELHARDT

“Human beings are capable of extraordinary things. We can create and we can destroy, we can love or we can hate. Some people believe they have souls. While others think that there is only this. Just this. Reality. The news. Killings, wars, bombings, hate, prejudice. Death.
And death? No one ever dies on television. Only the bad guys do.
Not you. Just them.
So death is without meaning. Happens without meaning due to media. We see but don't feel, we watch but haven't experienced. We can only sympathize. A gun doesn't fire on it's own and a fanatic doesn't just wake up one day and become a murderer. Hate doesn't have a face. Death doesn't have a face. Human beings become that face. All of us everyday. Whether you like it or not.
Why? Because this is a mindset a culture a history. From the time we are children we are taught that this is right and this is wrong. This is what a man does. This is what a woman does. Children emulate the behaviors of adults. Parents, movie characters and just about everyone else. We live in a society based on ideals. We celebrate the intelligence of the human race and then we take on the guises of everything the opposite of that belief we've ever known and support violence, support war. Behaviors that any intelligent race should have abandoned many years ago. We are surrounded by violence, surrounded by what we still are and what we are not becoming. Frankly we are all still just primitives and not capable in any way shape or form of creating a complete and everlasting peace and that's the sad reality of it all and always has been. We're just human. Only human. The good, the bad and the ugly. The evil, the damaged and the sick. The rich, the poor and all the rest of us.
So look at it this way. You can't change the world or make the world stop killing. You can't stop violence or hatred but you can walk away from it all. Violence is a part of being human. But so is love. So? Only fight if you have to. Live peacefully and as a peace keeper and do what you can to make the small part of your own world a better place. Whether that's thru creation, protest, teaching or just being who you are and doing what you do. You can't stop humanity from being humanity and you certainly can't stop all the horrible things that happen around the world everyday. So accept it. Light a candle, say a prayer, donate or meditate, listen to some music, write. But even if the human race isn't everything you wish it could be?
Hold on to love. Hold onto friends. Hold onto hope or whatever religion or belief that guides you through the dark.
Because in the end? You're just human and that's all that you can do. The best that you can do.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, R A W POEMS R.M. ENGELHARDT

“We write because the blank piece of paper and the pen are there. We write because this is our addiction and we are proud of it. Our habit, our drug, our crutch. Whatever you wish to call it. We write because since an early age we felt it deep in our souls and in our bones. The poem must be written, the story must be told and the new myths and Gods are waiting for you to bring them forth from out of the darkness and to bring them into the light of being. You are a creator, so create. You are the writer. So write.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Bones of Our Existence, A Journal 2046

“I can quote a million people but in the end it only comes down to one thing

"Faith”
― R.M. Engelhardt (TALON), The Bones of Our Existence, A Journal 2046

“Screw the false notion of "politically correct".
No matter what race, nationality, creed or color you are. If you are a real writer then you are writing in the real world. Write about it and stand up for yourself as well as other writers.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, COFFEE ASS BLUES & OTHER POEMS

“So what do you do for a living?

I burn the sun, the moon and the stars.
Breathe in words, voices, poetry.”
― R.M. Engelhardt (TALON), The Last Cigarette: The Collected Poems Of R.M. Engelhardt 1989-2006

“A poet if anything must be a poet and far more than just a writer of words. The poet is the storyteller, the shaman, the jester and the rogue. The poet lives in the world of language and imagination, love, death & obsession and yet still sees the universe in the smallest of everyday things that we merely take for granted.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Resurrection Waltz

“WRITE.
Manifest power in words.
Write poetry.
Name your own humanity.
Ponder creation thru inner meaning.
Find hidden voices in the universal consciousness of soul.
Find yourself, and then return again.
Poetry is the sacred religion
Of both time & space older than
Civilization itself.
Poetry is dead.
Poetry is living.
Poetry is everything.
Poetry is a language
Unto itself that is understood.
Poetry will never die
It will still appear in places
Long after you are dust
So write.
That’s all.
That’s it.
Write.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, The Bones of Our Existence, A Journal 2046

“Morning. Sitting in the courtyard, coffee. An old pair of jeans and a messed up damaged old black shirt cigarette in hand words being channeled from someplace somewhere nowhere places unknown without a destination. You're an artist without a canvas. The world is your canvas. Your life is the canvas. You've got to at least create something, say something, do something while you're sorry ass still remains tethered to this planet. Some people call this life, some people call this earth while others just call it purgatory. I suppose in the end that it's all up to you. Make the most of it because it ain't coming back around.”
― R.M. Engelhardt

“If you go looking for angels most likely you'll just find demons with halos instead.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, We Rise Like Smoke Poems Psalms Incantations

“All writing is experimental when it comes to prose & poetry. And when people demean or insult someone's ideas or work in such a manner it shows ignorance & arrogance.

The close minded never progress.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, WHERE THERE IS NO VISION POEMS 2020 R.M. ENGELHARDT

“WARNING. PSA

LITERARY TYPES ARE EVERYWHERE.

So always carry some form of protection when dealing with poets. This includes but is not limited to anthologies, whiskey bottles (or other object including flask or gin), bags of coffee, berets or bookmarks, turtlenecks, a book of Kerouac or Whitman, etc. Be wary. Prose writers are harder to spot and if they are novelists leave their area immediately or you will be stuck for hours listening to plots.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, COFFEE ASS BLUES & OTHER POEMS

“The soul becomes an empty house without friends or family.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, We Rise Like Smoke Poems Psalms Incantations

“Within each man a shadow exists.

The shadow of his past.
The shadow of his future.

And the shadow of all the things he
Could have been.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, OF SPIRIT, ASH & BONE POEMS PARABLES R.M. ENGELHARDT

“A good poem or poet
is like a good cigar or a
good whiskey. Everyone
Has their own preferences.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, OF SPIRIT, ASH & BONE POEMS PARABLES R.M. ENGELHARDT

“Writing a bit closer to the edge today.

Sometimes you just have to throw the truth all out there and annihilate all the bullshit.

One of the many reasons why we write.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, R A W POEMS R.M. ENGELHARDT

“Truth is?

Sometimes amid all the chaos you've got to walk into the fire whether you like it or not because there's a better world out there waiting for you to help make it.

Stand up.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, R A W POEMS R.M. ENGELHARDT

“Read A Book.

Because If you devalue literature you devalue humanity itself.

Education, thoughts & ideas are the only hopes for a real future that matters.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, OF SPIRIT, ASH & BONE POEMS PARABLES R.M. ENGELHARDT

“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, R A W: POEMS R.M. ENGELHARDT

“The moment is the morning cup of coffee and the truth from the writer's pen, the clarity of the poem, desolation & creation.

Fame, glory & once upon a times never matter in the end.

The only thing that matters or that will still one-day matter or remain alive are the words that you write long after you are gone ... or dust.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, R A W POEMS R.M. ENGELHARDT

“Poetry is much much more than all of the definitions, theories or explanations that you read or hear about everyday. Poetry is not just a form, a quote or one or two popular poets or pop stars in the media. Poetry is not hip hop or gangsta rap, slam or new formalism, gay or straight, white or black, dead or alive. Poetry does not belong either to the streets or the academics.

Poetry is not always a love song. Poetry is not always about the rain or nature, mountains or castles. Poetry is neither happy nor depressed, a villain or a hero, a lover or a friend.

Poetry is merely poetry for poetry’s sake. But the words are sacred, something sacred which we share.

Poetry is a state of consciousness and the mind.

Poetry is all of history and is the history of being.

Poetry is all of us

Poetry is you.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, OF SPIRIT, ASH & BONE POEMS PARABLES R.M. ENGELHARDT

“Every day is a
new day, every moment
cherished was once
a blank page”
― R.M. Engelhardt, We Rise Like Smoke Poems Psalms Incantations

“Each day begins uncertain amidst the calm & the void. We ask ourselves what it brings awaiting the small moments of self discovery of evening and the dusk. Our world, our voices finding our way through the darkness to become ourselves and our own light.”
― R.M. Engelhardt, WE RISE LIKE SMOKE~MYTHOS EDITION R.M. ENGELHARDT