Grow Your Own Girlfriend – 9th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Lonely, he hides away, dissatisfied,
can love really be found through a screen?
On seeing the ad, he quickly replied;
what could growing your own girlfriend mean?

So he planted the iridescent seed,
confiding every want and dream.
A stalk, then buds, with frightening speed,
uncurl and slowly split their seam.

A woman with eyes the colour of steel,
stepped out from the largest bloom.
Quickly learning how to think and feel,
from her only teacher in this room.

Her thoughts were just his own, replayed;
her humor matched his, beat for beat.
A perfect echo, thus she stayed,
making his own emptiness complete.

Her flawless mirror gave him chills;
her spirit fully bound by his own needs.
She stares out of the window, and he stills,
understanding now where this desire leads.

I had the title for this floating around as an idea for a while, though long forgotten the intention of the original note I made. The story is a reflection on a time in my 20s when I met a girl I liked through a friend and picked her up and drove back to my house to talk. I was quite interested in her initially and enjoyed her conversation and company until, at some point in the evening, I realised that she was almost exactly a female version of me. This bothered me so much that I immediately took her home and never caught up with her again! This probably says a lot about my state of mind at the time and I couldn’t handle this deep a look into the mirror.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Carpe Diem

As each day arises, welcome it as the best
Make it your own and seize what flees
You only have one chance at this test
Do your best and be your best, with ease

Leapfrog – 8th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

When you light a fire under his leaf
The frog has no alternative except to leap
Perhaps the fire is just a misguided belief
Pushing to keep up, the paranoia runs deep

The ‘sputnik effect’.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Good and Evil? Look At Your Choices

You instinctively understand
The right thing to do
Let reason guide your hand
To the right choice for you

What Colour Was That? – 7th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 22 Comments

Shared with dVerse Poetics – rose. An ‘Afternoon Delight’ is a type of rose, apparently.

An afternoon delight used to be
a beer in a summer garden.
Music played through a window
with the sun hanging lazy into night.

Those tinted glasses of nostalgia
– what colour was that again?
Knowing that it may not be repeated
why continue to wish for it to be so?

As beer became a thing of the past
– a regret of wasted time,
an afternoon delight is a nap
now that the sun sets so quickly.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

How To Have A Good Day

I’ll give you a guarantee
If you want to have a good day
Do good things for free
And you’ll always feel this way

Flowerage – 6th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 25 Comments

Covered in its perfume
Splits along the blush
Tender age in bloom*
Blues buried the crush
Seeds outgrew the rind
Bitter harvests follow pursuit
Tasted its sweetness blind
Bruises on the fruit*
Core outlasts the bite
An acerbic birthday suit
Succumbed to the blight

Written for dVerse Quadrille – bloom. Based on two lines from Nirvana’s In Bloom*. ‘Flowerage’ in honour of the Descendents.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Righteousness Is Beautiful

There are many tricks to showcase beauty
But it’s a deception in which to trust
Choose and even keel, a commitment to duty
Even-tempered, self-controlled, and just

The Message Mosaic – 5th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 7 Comments

chaos we’ve embraced
ignoring all predictions
they saw it coming!

prepared, they had already dug their holes
it turns out we’re the bad guys
but that we’ve always known

propaganda will not win this war, and our winter is coming soon

no one notices
the autumnal leaves falling
with small silent bombs

hostages
held
in helicopters 

a message must be
sent, so they
shoot the white girl first

Written for the Chimeric Poetry Scavenger Hunt – a Mosaic Haiku:
the 1st stanza is a Zappai or Senryu, 5-7-5
the 2nd is a Kimo, 10-7-6
the 3rd an American Sentence, 17
the 4th a traditional Haiku having a seasonal word, 5-7-5
the 5th is a Pi-ku 3-1-4
the 6th is a Lune 5-3-5
and, once again, utilising Punam’s dVerse prompt, which asked us to use opening lines from books as closing lines to poems. This one is “They shoot the white girl first,” from Paradise by Toni Morrison.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

You Are The Project

The raw material is your guiding reason
Your mind, the asset – you, the project
The professional has no laurels on which to rest
They know that practice makes perfect

Celsius 233 – 4th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 26 Comments

We, the living knowledge, remember it –
difficult ideas, things of beauty – struggle was
the gift given up voluntarily, like a
candy comforter, where rotten teeth bring pleasure.
We build new campfires with old tales to listen to
and think on the past – it was a pleasure to burn.

Written for dVerse – golden shovel and, once again, utilising Punam’s dVerse prompt, which asked us to use opening lines from books as closing lines to poems. This one is “It was a pleasure to burn,” from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Could this then be considered a golden triangle?

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What’s Truly Impressive

The gossip and notoriety of the rich and famous
Certainly reveals some sort of impression
Perhaps it impresses the ignoramus
Overpowered by their own obsession

All Creations – 3rd May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 27 Comments

the turtle does not
tell of things he does not know
– only what he’s lived –

the wolf remains strong
lower than all that sustains
– the pack remains strong –

the eagle carries
the heart of all the worlds
– sharing his teachings –

the bear looks on life
with the strength to face her fears
– protecting her young –

the beaver’s vision
a natural gift within
– the way it is done –

the raven, correct
understanding how to walk
– together, in life –

here, the buffalo
maintains the balance and needs
of all creations

Shared with dVerse Poetics – The Seven Grandfather Teachings
I might come back to this prompt as I’m not that happy with this write.
Indigenous Art by Michelle Stoney (except the raven, adapted by Ernie)

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Show, Not Tell, What You Know

You ate the words but failed to digest
Is your philosophy just a fancy quote?
Actions are the better way to invest
Your time towards what you would promote

Can You Dig It? – 2nd May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 25 Comments

Indigenous seeds refuse the plough
The dignity of labour takes a while
He digs a well from there to now
She digests history with a patient smile

A digitised map of looted art
She digs a moat of metaphor and stone
From indigent weeds, kingdoms start
Indignant empires overthrown

Written for dVerse Quadrille #246 – dig

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Be The Person You Want To Be

First, you must take the time to think
About what’s most important to you
Then take action and do the work
To guide yourself to what’s true

FFS (False Flag Shooter) – 1st May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Written for GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 30:
Try writing your own poem that discusses a real or mythical being or profession (demons, firefighters, demonic firefighters) with the same sort of musing yet dispassionate tone.
And talking of lyrebirds, this write is very obviously a mimicry of the example poem for this prompt, Angels by Russell Edson.

They are of little use. They are best as objects of ridicule.
Yet no government runs without them.

Like lyrebirds, and yet almost human . . .
They communicate by briefly looking at each other.
Their legs are like red jellybeans.

Sometimes they have been said to inspire a President to do more with his life than he might have.
But what else is there left for a President to do with his life?

…Their ears burn beautifully with a red flame.

When they cry out, it is like the screech of a tiny hinge; the cry of a bat. No one hears it . . .
Yet fist pump bigly.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Make Character Your Loudest Statement

Carry no uniform
No stereotype
Your character
Breaks down all hype

A Thing Of The Past – 30th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

When I look back to the past…
this morning’s coffee –
and from there, I try to trace the day
back to now.

Everything I learned since 1967
I remember, but cannot recall.
Everything that happened since 1967
made my day today.

While reading Remembrance of Things Past
I wonder how Proust knew what I was thinking?
Just another reminder that ‘this’
may (or may not) be true.

Written for GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 29:
Compare your everyday present life with your past self, using specific details to conjure aspects of your past and present in the reader’s mind.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What Is In Keeping With Your Character?

Your opinion is an invisible script
Something you may not even understand
Your own compass must be tightly gripped
So that your character grows as planned