R.M.Engelhardt – An Xperience Monthly Interview, by Liam Sweeny

Interview with R.M. Engelhardt

As a creative person, it’s great to have creative friends that have, over the years, really transformed their discipline in the area. In this case, watching them take a scene adrift and shaping it into a strong and open community.

R.M. Engelhardt has been a driving force in the Capital District poetry scene, with School of Night, Albany Poets, and Albany Wordfest under his belt, he continues to push the bounds of verse and meter.

I connect with R.M. and we discuss fine black coffee.

RRX: You’ve in many hours and minutes over the years building and maintaining spaces for the Capital Region’s poets. School of Night and Albany Poets. I should probably describe these efforts to our readers, but I’m gonna play hot potato with the mic and toss it to you. What hath thou wrought?

R.M: Wow.

Do you have the next 24 hours free? That’s definitely a big question so I’ll try to break it down a bit. I started reading poetry at open mics at the Qe2 in Albany roughly around 1993 and became addicted to it. So, to make it short I’ve been doing this all for about 30 years now, creating & supporting poetry open mics and opportunities for old & new poets to share their work. Vox at the Lionheart, The School of Night at Valentine’s , Propaganda, Listen!, The Troy Poetry Mission & most recently, Invocation of The Muse, a monthly poetry open mic which I began at Lark Hall last year in downtown Albany. Also over the years I’ve created mixed media events, benefits for good causes like the annual Halloween Edgar Allan Poe Tribute. In 1999 I created the group “ Albany Poets (now a part of The Hudson Valley Writers Guild) with friend and poet Thom Francis as well as the now sadly missed yearly poetry festival The Albany Wordfest which brought a lot of attention to the Albany Poetry scene in general and attracted tons of poets from across NYS and states nearby to participate. There.

I’m going to take a breath now.

RRX: Poetry has been around forever; “Let there be light” might be the first verse, who knows? But poetry has changed, not so much in structure and flow, which it has, no doubt. Really in the place that society gives it. With writing being supplanted by content in the digital age, make the case for poetry: why that and not just living off memes?

R.M:  Well memes are an essential part of social media and can draw attention to your work (humorous/political/etc) but in the end no matter how much poetry changes it is still an unending means of human expression. When this was somewhat new several years ago  (Instagram) poets used memes as a integral part of their presentation and their writing and brought attention to themselves. Some with shock value, others with art. But as most things the fad it has come and gone. Become commonplace. So in the end it looks like the actual words and poetry, what matters the most actually won. Personally? I like creating funny memes which attract people to my work and the small indie press which I run Dead Man’s Press Ink.

RRX: Anyone going to a poetry open mic as a spectator probably has a great, inspiring time, but going as a participant can be terrifying. I remember the first, and maybe only poetry open mic night I went to, I was very nervous and just wanted to get the hell out, but I found it to be very supportive. How can prospective readers allay their nerves?

R.M. :  1^st time I ever read in public at a poetry open mic I read two quick haikus so I could get off the damn stage as quickly as possible. True story. And I am still, even after all of these years an introvert who had to force himself to become an extrovert. Nervousness is a perfectly natural response to public speaking. Some try? Never return. But it’s not because of the audience. My advice to those who would like to attend an open mic is to start small. Bring one poem or two, study them and concentrate on the words and pauses. Read them clearly but don’t think about or look directly at the audience. Concentrate on the poems themselves. And keep doing this routine until it becomes easier at each open mic you go to. There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and that fear is imaginary.

RRX: As mentioned before, you have worked diligently to build a poetry scene in the Capital District and its hinterlands. That’s not just a phone call and a three-martini lunch; it’s real work. It’s probably herding cats sometimes too. Take us through the day before the year’s biggest poetry event, whatever that is. What are you doing?

RM.:  I recently read some of my new work out at the Fuze Box here in Albany on a Friday night, last night in April actually at an event called H E X which features both spoken word performances and then goth, industrial dance music afterwards.  A great deal of my time and effort these days goes into advertising the event weeks & days before and on it. For quite awhile I’ll focus one creating the ads, writing up the invites on social media. But on the day before any event generally I’m working like everyone else. Then after work or the night before I’ll organize the work I want to read and try to find a flow so to speak & and the order of the poems that feels right. Also? After reading & rereading them I make sure that I rest before going out. My routine is to buy/drink some coffee and smoke a few clove cigarettes before performing. It helps.

RRX: So R.M., tell us a bit about your new book and why it’s different than some of the books you’ve published in the past? Also, are there any poetry readings or open mics locally that you recommend? Thanks

R.M. : My new book of poems, RAW is kind of like a homecoming of sorts. The reason I say that is because in it’s essence it’s much more like my earlier work and the poems which I had published back in the days before the internet and when poetry zines still existed mostly on paper.

There is a lot of humor and sarcasm as well as political mockery in it but also some poetry about the times we now live in full of fear and doubt, comprehension. I suppose some of the poems really ask; Where Do We Go From Here? There is also a poem I wrote for a friend who was found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit which also makes a statement against all that’s gone wrong in America and what we need to fix. You can get the new book through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. As for poetry and open mics in the Albany, Capital District area you can find many of them listed on The HVWG ( Hudson Valley Writers Guild) monthly calendar on they’re website. There’s a lot going on to be a part of. Invocation of The Muse Poetry Open Mic I host is held on the first Monday of each month at Lark Hall. 7:30pm SignUp*8pm Start. See you there!