BORN WITNESS

Born witness
We still write eternal
Songs waiting
For a revelation
Sacred self
Looking for
Our own
Reflections
In the mirrors
Cast by others
Who walked
Before us

I

Tattoo
My soul
With ancestors
Names
Dream walkers
Theives & vagrants
Holy men & immigrants
American shaman
Wasting words
Upon old scrolls
Looking for
Evidence looking
For some truth of
Gods Angels existence
Blood & sacrament
Among the tribes &
The gravestones
Remenents of the
War dead & heroes
Of blue collar
Democracy

Great Ulysess
And Walt Whitman
Cain & Abel
Blind Virgil is disabled
And recieves
Welfare checks

In the mail

From an
Experiment once
Called humanity

That failed

One-day
We wish to
Travel by light
To other realms

Frightened children

Still

Not knowing
Our own way

Home

ONE CIGARETTE

“It’s cold out here
I’m freezin’ ta death!”

An old man
Says teeth chattering
In his skull

I walk past
All the bars the
Hipsters the vagrants
Past the bright lights
Of clubs & stores
That offer no refuge
From the below zero
Glare of street lamps
And cars

But there
She stands freezing
Shaking uncontrollably
On the corner
In a short dress
& a thin puffy coat
Trying to look tough
When she can’t be more
Than 17

“Hey mister !”

“You got a cigarette?”

I turn to look
Across the street

“I’ll suck your cock for twenty dollars”

And in a moment
That seems like an eternity
I stare. It’s that feeling that
Comes over you when it
Seems like everything
Is unreal

But then
It hits me

Not disgust
But a nausea
A sadness that suddenly
Wells up into my gut
My soul and my heart
Broken into 100,000 pieces
In less than 30 seconds

I shake my head …

“No.”

I don’t have a cigarette for you

Go home.

Your Mom & Dad
Are probably dying
Right now without you

Go find a warm shelter and
Get off this street now or I’ll
Have to call the police

“Fuck You !”

She replies

And again
That nauseous feeling
Returns

And sadly
And calmly
I reply back

Not even one
Cigarette or a $20 dollar bill is going to
Save your sorry ass
And if you haven’t already
Noticed God isn’t saving you
Or watching over you
Either

So
You only have
2 choices

You can freeze
To Death or you can save
Yourself

And that’s
The only gift
There is

Living.

And I don’t care

“Merry Christmas”

And I
Walked off into
The cold & the snow
Knowing nothing
More for her
Could ever be done

TODAY

Some
Day
Another
Day
We
Will
Wake
Up
To
Find
And
Realize
That
This
Is
The
Day
When
We
Decide
To
No
Longer
Be
A
Slave
To
Dictators
And
Assholes
Tyrants
And
Shitbags

That
Day
Is
Today

That
Day
Is
Now

Life Done Me Wrong

I ain’t goin to let you get the best of me. I’ve been through hell, back and then some. Seen death. Wars and shit you can’t even imagine. Who are you to tell me I can’t just sit here on this park bench drinkin my hooch. You say I’ll freeze to death. You say that I have sumthin to live for. Shit. You won’t even give me a dollar and you offered to by me some food. Who the fuck are you to tell me about who I am and what to do. Fuck you.

Who are you anyways muther fucker?!

“I’m God”

Poet & writer R.M. Engelhardt is a poet/author who over the last 20 or years has been published in such journals as Thunder Sandwich, Rusty Truck, Writers’ Resist, Dry Land Lit, Hobo Camp Review & many others. He currently lives and writes in upstate NY.