Soubriquets – 22nd April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Shaun, Shaun,
the leprechaun
– chanted every day.

Never owned,
made forlorn,
even if just child’s play.

Then came punk
– shortened and claimed,
please call me Leper.

Finding my own way,
happily renamed
to something better.

Also was Sol
or sometimes Sunny,
though I never knew why.

Perhaps ironic
as I saw little funny
with clouds filling the sky.

After that
it was back to Shaun,
I was named after a pup!

Contemplating change,
what new name worn
that might improve my luck?

Into a new world
I became Smithers –
a name I simply hated

Secretary to a Mr Burns
who gave me shivers,
with his energy created.

Once online
I was kabukiboy
for my love of Mack’s Kabuki.

My pseudonym,
I did enjoy
the freedom of anonymity.

Finally,
It’s tenzenmen –
a moniker of many years.

A name for everything,
I began again
whenever inspiration appears.

Written for GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 21:
Write a poem in which you muse on your name and nicknames you’ve been given.

“Shaun, Shaun the leprechaun,” was the name Paul and George, lodgers in my early childhood home, gave me and I didn’t like it much, though not entirely sure why. Maybe it was explained to me that leprechauns had a negative connotation. Thinking about all this now, they also called me Gaun, after a pre-school friend who hadn’t learnt how to pronounce ‘sh’ yet.
When I got turned onto punk, it was the thing to have a punk name, and so, remembering the above, I shortened it to the punk-appropriate Leper. I kept at it for a couple of years but the nicknames one tries to introduce themselves never really catch on.
Sol and Sunny was a name some older girls in middle school gave me, though, again, I don’t know where it came from at all.
Starting work life in the UK, I don’t think I got any nicknames given here, which is quite surprising considering it was a male-dominated office where ribbing and playing were a given. This was when I discovered that my dad had named me after the dog that was the mascot of the Irish Guards, where he was a member.
Moving to Australia and finding a job there, I suddenly acquired a new nickname. The job I applied for was as an IT tech support but because I was the new guy, I was also seconded for the mornings to do the secretarial work for the manager, who was a real pain in the ass. Hence the nickname Smithers from The Simpsons. It really felt demeaning and I hated it.
With the introduction of the internet, it was a chance to be reborn and hide behind a pseudonym and as I had gotten back into comic collecting again, really loving David Mack’s Kabuki stories, I started with kabuki but that soon evolved to kabukiboy.
Before moving to Australia, I had released a noise album under the moniker of tenzenmen and when I got back into music making and then running a record label, I decided that from that point onwards I would use the non-de-plume of tenzenmen for whatever I was working on, whether it was music, production, poetry or publishing.

Spindle Tree – 20th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

There are no gardenias –
perhaps they only existed
in my imaginary garden…

I’ll sip and sigh,
with my yellow chrysanthemum tea
bringing you to mind.

Where’s my frangipani?
My sweet summer’s soul
just a deep red carnation.

All the daisies tell all the stories
so very well.
Will you think of it?

I will think of it
as the scarlet geranium
let the scars deepen.

Written for GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 19:
Pick a flower or two from this online edition of Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers and write your own poem in which you muse on your selections’ names and meanings.

Chrysanthemum, Yellow – Slighted love.
Carnation, Deep Red – Alas! for my poor heart.
Daisy – Innocence.
Daisy, Garden – I share your sentiments
Daisy, Michaelmas – Farewell.
Daisy, Party-coloured – Beauty.
Daisy, Wild – I will think of it.
Geranium, Scarlet – Contorting. Stupidity.
Spindle Tree – Your charms are engraved on my heart.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Real Good Is Simple

The status craved, once achieved
Is never quite as wished
More is good, we believed
But simple wisdom will resist

After Words – 19th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 8 Comments

Epilogue:

So that was it, the story done,
everyone was dead – everyone!
A tragic tale to be very sure,
even the heroes were no more.

But just as this tale was being told,
a similar one was taking hold,
Because history is always repeated,
as if the lessons had been deleted.

It becomes a chore to tell again
the hows, the whys, the where, the when.
So the storytellers always return
to teach the students who failed to learn.

Shared with GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 18:
Try your hand at writing a poem that could be a section or piece of a story. 

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Our Sphere Of Impulses

Surrender and serve the common good
With power or not – leave room
Everyone can be the one who could
Provide the answers that you’d presume

Philosophical Truce – 18th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 5 Comments

All is a contradiction,
a place where opposites meet;
avoiding confrontation
in a war where words compete.

Reading many philosophical texts, which contradict each other and often themselves. This doesn’t render them useless but keeps us in balance and open-minded to all ideas.

Shared with GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 17:
Write a poem in which you respond to a favourite poem by another poet.
While this is not a response to a specific poem, it is a response to the poetry of the philosophers.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Opinions Are Like…

Think about the world around you
And the opinions you pile on top
Dogma, expectation or ignorance
Weed them out until they stop

Some Kind Of Love – 17th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Every day I hear you call.
The beast rumbles
and so the hunt begins!

Temptations triggered
by olfactory memories.
Salivating salvations!

Down the aisles
or spread before me.
Swords to the ready!

Sometimes I don’t want
to talk or think about you.
I’ve had enough.

Some days are sharp,
others piquant or honeyed,
but balance is better.

Some kind of love?
Because without you
I would die.

Written for GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 16:
Write a poem in which you describe something that cannot speak, and what it has taught or told you.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

No Harm No Foul

The interpretation of words holds power
The difference between fight and connection
The choice between the sweet and sour
Is purely based on your reception

Hourglass – 16th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 26 Comments

Where did you go?

You were still there
as I tried to get each
grain of sand back
inside the hourglass
I’d smashed.

Our hearts no longer full
yet still far from empty.
When shared with another
did you disappear?
I can still feel you here.

Where did you go,
shuffling away so slowly?
I still see your trails
on every new horizon
I’ve chased.

Memories morphed
deeper within
the longer valleys between us,
old sun making shadows
of that time.

Where did you go?
My love.

Written for dVerse Poetics: Where does love go? and GloPoWriMo 2026 Day 15:
Write a poem that muses on love, but isn’t a traditional love poem in the sense of expressing love between romantic partners.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Observe Cause And Effect

Learn to identify the thoughts
 and behaviours that are destructive
Cause and effect are sorts
 where patterns are observed constructive

The Words – 15th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

only a notebook
a smooth-flowing ball-tipped pen
soon, the words will come

or, in lieu of that
any old device will do
the words must emerge

a scrap of paper…
(from one mind to another)
…even a whisper

A senryu chain written fro GloPoWriMo Day 14:
write a poem that bridges (whether smoothly or not) the seeming divide between poetry and technological advances.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Pay Your Taxes

Pay your taxes gladly
Never hope for exemption
You are not special, sadly
To fight is just pretension

The Track – 14th April 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 8 Comments

Once you were a garbage dump,
then covered over with soil,
You became a perfect playground,
that only time would spoil.

“Burty monghead!“

Bored kids became opportune,
building jumps and berms,
Weaving in and out of the trees,
navigating tricky turns.

“Chinny rack-on!“

At night great fires were built
and danger was closely tested,
As boredom lead to discovery
with all our effort invested.

“Muz twang!“

We dug a hole eight feet down
and covered it over with branches,
Camping and drinking underage,
partying through teenage chances.

“Crabby dareya!“

As time went on we all moved away
and the track fell into disrepair,
But I’ll always remember those times
of laughter and joy that we had there.

Written for GloPoWriMo Day 13:
Try your hand today at writing your own poem about a remembered, cherished landscape.

As kids, we got up to a lot of monkey business in our village and ended up with a nightly drive through from the police just to check in on us. The track was a mini-refuge where we were mostly concealed from prying eyes. At first, it was a BMX track and then as we grew into motorbikes, we tested each other to see who could jump the furthest and highest. The next generation of kids after us was quite tame in comparison, perhaps with the rising influence of video games keeping them indoors. Boredom was the best – we had such fun.
The odd phrases in the poem will only be understood by the few of us involved, somewhat our own colloquialisms.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Becoming An Expert In What Matters

We get very good at what we’re paid to do
But do those things contain any value?
Of all the many things you know
Are there any to help your children grow?