Your Watson – 28th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What do you think, as the pen is poised?
Is the thought already fully formed?
Ideas get tested before being employed
Many of which can be ignored

Sometimes the sounds make little sense
The intelligent audience will reject
Every other idea must be dispensed
Until all the logic is found perfect

Let the paper test all your doubt
Brevity of words makes clear the reward
Most everything else can be crossed out
What’s left, highlighted and underscored

Inspired by a David Elikwu newsletter, where he discusses how Sherlock Holmes used Watson as a sounding board, much like many other famous people, testing ideas. So the writer tests their ideas on the page, in search of something meaningful.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

You Hold The Trump Card

Do you look at the day ahead and despair?
We could look at it and simply rejoice
What we’ve been granted is usable and fair
Your response is decided by your choice

Your Faith And Your Soul – 27th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Walking in circles under the dripping canopy’s leaves,
repeating a sentence someone gave him at twenty.
Terrorise your enemies.

The world moved on while he stood still,
saluting the red circle of the sun.
Stand your ground.

Voices called his name from the edge of the trees,
but every kindness sounded like a trick.
Never surrender.

Counting the years by how many ghosts went silent,
the mission remained loud in his head.
Hold the line.

Set to starve than admit the hunger was pointless,
rather be feared than feel foolish.
Show no retreat.

It is not truth that convinces him,
but a formal command,
stepping out of the past.
“Lay down your arms.”

So, Onoda walks out of the jungle at last,
wearing three decades of orders as his only story.
His identity.

Hiroo Onoda was the last Japanese soldier to surrender, 29 years after the Second World War ended. He survived in the jungles of the Philippines, not believing that the war was over and only came out of hiding on his insistence that his commanding officer issued the order to stand down.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What Will Prosperity Reveal?

It won’t matter how good things get
If your mind is primed for panic
When there’s even more to lose
You’ll be prone to feeling manic

Still Frozen – 26th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 17 Comments 
The dew isn't frozen for a change,
each step leaves a dark hole,
a trail to my soggy shoes.

Once again,
I stand at the old wooden shed door
with a bent, rusty key
that no longer turns the stuck lock.

It would be easy to break in.

Inside, 
the axe, 
the scythe, 
the shears, 
all in need of sharpening.

I'm not ready yet.

Written for Poets and Storytellers #246 – spring. Look at that. I actually wrote a seasonal poem.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What Time Off Is For

Enjoy your relaxation like a poet
Relaxed but observing the world around
What is your calling? Do you know it?
Endless TV is not freedom found

When God Is Satisfied – 25th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 9 Comments 
Do you see this home I made,
  as well, the streets, houses and moon?
You are just a game I play,
  ceasing to exist very soon.

Once out of sight, out of mind;
  mere puppets dancing on my strings;
Life is illusion, you'll find
  no magic with what freedom brings.

I will create the rainbows
  or thunder as my mood dictates;
My rules, nobody knows,
  along with all your future fates.

If you deign to interfere
  I'll fill you full of distraction;
Better say your prayers right here
  and give us both satisfaction.

This poem is based on the four stanzas of Soliloquy of the Solipsist by Sylvia Plath.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Vulnerability Of Dependence

Everyone is a slave to something
Coffee, comfort, approval or routines
Test your dependencies before they are too great
And find out what freedom means

The Long Arrival – 24th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 28 Comments 
Leaving dusty footprints on Texan soil,
     a drifting unemployed taxi driver.
     Stumbling through nights of doubt,
     towards seedy lighthouses that shone brightest.

He scratched her name on napkins, in margins,
     on the fogged glass of Greyhounds—
     rehearsing a love that would never be more
     than a monologue for his mirrors.

Believing the act would be a sentence,
     six shots, one ricocheted love letter,
     so that on his arrival, 
     history might remember him
     as something other than a ghost.

Shared with dVerse Poetics: Pilgrimage and reflecting on the story of John Hinckley Jr.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

It Could Happen To You

Is there anything in life that fortune
won’t knock off it’s high hourse if it pleases?
Prepare your mind for the possibilities
Of flood, fire, famine and diseases

A Fit Of Sulks – 23rd September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 9 Comments 
A bully found within—
always the one wronged,
going to great lengths
to communicate your offence
at things so trivial.

You are the ironic
definition of the humdudgeon!

Almost obsolete in the dictionary
and modern use.
When you were needed most,
you were gone.

Shared with dVerse Quadrille #256 – ho-hum

From Deepseek:

Humdudgeon is a compound of hum and dudgeon.
Hum comes from Middle English hummen (to hum, buzz, drone), probably imitative in origin. Here it carries the sense of “humbug”—a hoax or imposition.
Dudgeon means a feeling of deep offence or resentment—as in the phrase “in high dudgeon” (furiously indignant). Its ultimate origin is uncertain, but it may come from the English dudgen (something worthless) or Italian aduggiare (to overshadow).

So the word combines the idea of something false or hollow (hum) with righteous indignation (dudgeon)—a fake grievance, an invented illness, a fuss over nothing.

One modern commentator noted the irony: at a time when taking offence seems increasingly popular, the near-obsolescence of humdudgeon—a word for needless offence—is “a bit odd”.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Most Secure Fortress

When ruling reason rallies and relies on itself
The mind free from passions is impenetrable
There’s no more secure place of refuge
When unconscious behaviour becomes exceptional

A Lazy Listen – 22nd September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment 
There’s a strange bird in the tree
  warbling weird birdsong at me.
I’m listening lazily.


~ Thinking that there will be a long time
    of contemplating death ~


The sun shines down on me
  and I’m smiling uncontrollably.
What a wonderful day to be.

True story.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

No Pain, No Gain

Difficulties show a person’s character
Do you get frustrated and just complain?
Or see a chance to learn and get stronger?
It’s the cliche repeated again and again

Light Filters – 21st September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment 
Rebellion at the fingertips...
  Is every Mao-suited Chinese man a wannabe beatnik?

Even the anti-hero unknowingly conforms to a borrowed script
  succoured by allure.

Exhaled ethereal silver circles of thought,
  while plotting...

Ritual rhythms at the Café de Flore,
  stillness and motion in retro contrast.

A cowboy in cool contemplation
  draws deep,
  leaving footprints in the dust.

Inspired by the aesthetic pleasures of smoking. I am reformed but felt curious about the charm.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Maintain Composure, Maintain Control

There’s a rhythm, there’s a beat
That you want to try and keep
Confusion comes when least expected
Your composure and control must be protected

Five Returns – 20th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 18 Comments

All ways
are returning
back to the comfy chair
with a coffee, cat and a book
to read

To read
of roads ahead—
following that one star
a glamour hiding frozen wastes
—return!

Return
to opposite—
the pendulum swings down
here is another hell waiting
—return!

Return
Hollywood shines—
the hills hide the horrors
Barbie demons with plastic smiles
—return!

Go then
towards morning
letting the sunshine in
I will remain at this compass
always.

Shared with dVerse MTB: Five Leavings From Home and inspired by my own movement of home around the world.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Life Isn’t A Dance

Life is more a battle than a dance
Though we must be agile to move
But don’t let the unexpected take a chance
Philosophy is your steel to improve

Ruined Haiku – 19th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Snow in my shoe
Abandoned
Sparrow’s nest
—circling cats

~~

I am nobody:
A red sinking autumn sun
Took my name away
—give it back, asshole!

~~
In the falling snow
A laughing boy holds out his palms
Until they are white
—the doctors try to reattach the fingers

~~

The crow took the sky,
brushing the clouds with its wings,
then folded them back,
—mangled in a jet engine.

~~

Empty baseball field
a robin hops along the bench
picking at peanut shells
—the bleachers have seen better days

~~

Office coffee break
we pretend not to notice
the new receptionist
—but welcoming cleavage defies

~~

First date at forty—
she straightens the salt shaker
between us twice
—hiding the damp between her legs

~~

Morning train delay
no one meets each other’s eyes
phone screens fill the car
—modern life really is rubbish

~~

Family reunion
we all share the same bad jokes
and different regrets
—but never speak of Uncle Jim

~~

Wedding reception—
the band plays “Unchained Melody”
for the third time
—give it a rest, guys

I decided to ruin some perfectly good haiku/senryu. All credit to the authors and their italicised original writing – whoever they are.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Flexibility Of The Will

Are you the robot that can adapt
When conditions change, and new facts arise?
An iron will may see you trapped
Flexibility is where your resilience lies