Purples – 16th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

At first, I was all about the blue
Age slowly turned me to the red
For a while, black was all that would do
And that coloured everything I said

The lines washed away in the sand
With a little bit of this and that
This prince’s rain fell with even hand
Cut greener grasses, rendered matte

Initiated by the recollection that my favourite colour when I was a kid was blue but in my adulthood that changed to red, with the requisite black teenage period in between. This could be seen as a political generalisation as well but not really my intention. While I may have started leaning towards a more conservative life, my politics still lean well to the left. It’s all about finding balance, especially after exploring the extremes, as I have done in the past. A nod to Prince is only because anything connected to the colour purple brings his song to mind. I’m not a fan. The idea of even rainfall though, is that it is easier to deal with than the intense times of storms and clemency. This explanation is longer than the poem. I’m in a weird mood.

Periphrasis is a poem yet to be published here but in the meantime was published at Spillwords here

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Anyone Can Get Lucky, Not Everyone Can Persevere

Anyone can taste sweet successes
The test comes with disaster
A great person never second-guesses
Their mind made them the master

Reasons Fade – 15th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

The detective steps into the room,
I know the questions that are coming;
No bright lights of intimidation,
yet the anticipation is humming.

We stare at the evidence provided,
trying to pick the story apart,
and put it back together, from the end,
right up until the start.

So detailed statements are being made,
some may even contain the truth,
but the further back, the reasons fade:
it’s been a long time since my youth.

Highlighting difficulties I face in trying to piece together events that I have noted from the past, as seen on this blog.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

A Garden Is Not For Show

Let the seed gradually grow
Reach maturity before you show
Let the roots take a firm hold
Prepare for the winter’s cold

Floored – 14th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

You look uncomfortable in your skin,
always primping and preening;
beauty shines outside, but then within,
your vanity is scheming.

Always seeking the observer’s gaze,
who knows what you’re meant to be?
It must be exhausting to erase
flaws the world will never see.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

A Different Way To Pray

Prayers came well before there were gods
Now we selfishly pray against the odds
Instead, let’s pray to calm our desires
To counter the craving when it conspires

The Entertainment – 13th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I will not be distracted from being the idiot
Do not make fun of my shiny red nose
You are all the clowns in my theatre
The unreasonable man in my shows

Written around the George Bernard Shaw quote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Protecting Our Inner Fortress From Fear

When you’ve made your fortress strong
The outside cannot touch your soul
Worries and doubt will come along
And fear is always looking for a hole

The Vagaries – 12th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment 
Could I be the river?
Could I be the fire?
Without being consumed
     by the vagaries.

Waiting to live a life,
urgently fading away;
Lost in a labyrinth
     of the vagaries.

Here lie my words; I had no choice.
Everything was easy, yet I made it worse.
You saw me live through it.
I had no choice; here lie my words.

A most precise parsing
of my amazement at my time.
My meditation
     on my vagaries.

Inspired by and slightly paraphrased from this article at The Marginalian.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Be Down To Earth, Or Be Brought Down

Overconfidence is a great weakness
Too proud of your uniqueness
The humbling hurt is profound
When you’re brought back down to ground

Telling Time – 11th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Time reveals fragility

The status quo is a jester
A one-hit wonder
Soon lies under
The corpses of the investor

Entropy speeds up

Clinging to the last quarter
Tides recede
As they need
To find a new supporter

Inspired by a David Elikwu article at the Knowledge

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What Would Less Look Like?

Could you carry on
If everything you had was gone?
When you live beyond your means
You live on borrowed dreams

The Amateur – 10th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 22 Comments

In a perpetual state of curiosity,
I am the lover—the amator,
consumed by the pursuit,
never arriving as the station’s master.

Reshaped by the objects of affection—
endlessly revealing itself
with fresh eyes.

To be possessed by a god.

I am the midwife of ideas,
so come sit with me
and be courted every day.

Shared with dVerse: Poetics Tuesday – teachers

Information from DeepSeek that helped form this poem:
1. Amateur: From the Latin amator (lover). Originally, an amateur wasn’t a beginner; it was someone who did something for the love of it, rather than for mastery. A teacher who is still learning while teaching is an amateur in the truest sense, driven by a love of the subject and of the students.
2. A master has already arrived at their destination; they know the material, they deliver it, they clock out.
3.  In Roman love poetry, the amator is constantly changed, humbled, and reshaped by the object of their affection. The subject endlessly reveals itself, and the student’s fresh eyes make the teacher see the subject anew.
4. Enthusiasm comes from the Greek enthousiasmos, which means”to be possessed by a god”.
5. ‘I am the midwife of ideas’ is from Socrates.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Preparing On A Sunny Day

As soldiers practice in peacetime
In happy days build your defences
Without a comparison to define
All your previous indulgences

Xenolith – 9th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 27 Comments

Welcoming a stranger as a guest
We integrated at once, impressed
These fragments of a lucky break
The genesis of a world we’ll make

Pigs’ hearts will keep us beating
Fear will not have us retreating
We are the locked doors
inside the house.

Written for dVerse Quadrille #255 – xenolith
1. The prefix xeno- comes from the ancient Greek word xénos (ξένος), which simply meant “stranger,” “foreigner,” or “guest.”
2. The xenolith integrates when impressed into the larger rock.
3. The xenolith, as a fragment and lucky break, is just the randomness of nature. ‘Fragments of a Lucky Break’ is also the title of an album by Trumans Water.
4. Xeno-genesis: The process of an organism producing offspring that are completely different from itself. A nod to the dinosaurs and oil.
5. Xeno-transplantation: The transplantation of living cells, tissues, or organs from one species to another.
6. Xeno-phobia.
7 & 8: The xenolith is locked inside the rock. The “stranger” we fear most is the one we hide from within ourselves.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself

Living in fear is not living
Mistakes are made for forgiving
To convert retreat into advance
Fear must not be given a chance