Cop In Your Pocket – 5th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

You’ll never walk alone
with a cop in your pocket,
surveilling from your phone.

Everything uploaded,
now, it’s too late to stop it;
analysed, decoded.

Each decision reviewed
may forfeit your deposit;
so check your attitude.

Black mirrors being held
to ransom for a profit;
so, suitably compelled.

Surveilling for your phone,
with a cop in your pocket.

You’ll never walk alone.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Blow Your Own Nose

The world is unfair; this may be true
Practically speaking, what good is that to you?
Oh woe is you! You still have hands
Get active and do it while you can

The Better Man – 4th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 15 Comments

Something old

Something new

Something borrowed

Something blue

A sixpence in her shoe

Our friendship before the loan

Your silence after

My twenty dollars

The colour of your absence

Was worth it

Shared with dVerse Poetics. The ‘something borrowed’ line reminded me of the thought, ‘If you lend someone twenty dollars and never see them again, then it was probably worth it.’ I’ve tried to ‘marry’ the two ideas together here.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

This Is What We’re Here For

No one said life was easy – it’s true
No one said that it would be fair
It’s been done before – you can do it too
It’s tradition, and you’re the heir

He Is Here – 3rd June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 19 Comments

Horns no longer hidden
Pointed at yellow lines
Crossing them is forbidden
Stripped to their confines

Facing rape with guns
Exterminating daughters and sons
Behold the chosen ones

Horns are now revealed
Along with exposed tails
Evil no longer concealed
The devil is Israel’s

Shared with dVerse Quadrille #249 – horns and inspired by the actions taken by the IDF against the flotilla activists who were kidnapped in international waters while trying to bring aid to the Palestinians who are, ironically, being genocided by Israel. Sorry if you don’t like the message. I don’t like the inhumanity and I will protest through my poetry.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

It Is Well To Be Flexible

What’s wanted may not be possible
Nor your second choice or third
It is well to be humble and flexible
To be a human being of our word

Just To Say – 1st June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Is this even a poem?

These are instructions for living a life!

So pay attention, be astonished!


There are lines to be read between

where secrets lie awaiting the skilled reader.

My second attempt at awesoku and inspired/paraphrased from this Substack post – How To Like Poetry, written by Isaac Kolding.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Always Have A Mental Reverse Clause

Things won’t always behave as instructed
Our reverse clause can be arranged
Our progress can be impeded or disrupted
But the mind can also be changed

Seed Fall – 31st May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 22 Comments

She cracked the dry seed pod open,
tipped the tiny black seeds into my hand,
closing my fingers around them—
a secret we both knew would not grow here.

Did she close my fingers to keep them safe,
or to make sure that I would feel them slip away?

I let go of the seeds—
but I kept the shape of her fingers closed around mine.

Shared with Poets and Storytellers United #229 – Letting go

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

We Have But One Obligation

In your life, there’s just one thing
That must be done to make it sing
Be a good person, make no excuses
Do your job so that no one loses

The In And Out – 30th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 18 Comments 
breathing 

      is really more important than the other in-and-outs,

      and it’s never consciously thought about
      until the final one, in that stark white hospital



room 

      where family sits together, in quiet grief.

      the empty shell cleaned, now unfurnished of blood,

      getting smaller and smaller and that



is 

      the way we all go after being, our undoing.

      all the stories that made us us, told you what we were,

      all connected by these little words



only 

      to be forgotten, not amounted to much, there

      may be others but just a few who scratch

      their name somewhere, to be seen to break through,



born 

      under the lights, to brightly shine, made all

      fresh and new, furnished again with blood.

      a tiny temple, a clean empty shell



with 

      first breaths made together, familiar families

     sit again in familiar rooms, in familiar places.

      going home with more to include, in this



space

      where new blossoms bloom, grass grows,

      streets lights wander up to the mountain skies

      where new stories are born in the twinkle of an eye.

Shared with dVerse MTB: taking a fine line down where I have reused the line ‘breathing room is only born with space’ from my own poem from a couple of days ago, ‘On The Usefulness Of Emptiness’. This line is then used as a word acrostic and each stanza defines (somewhat, in my case) the meaning of the word. The prompt and my write was inspired by Laura Bloomsbury’s poem ‘An unbundling’.

I started writing this thinking about my mother passing away on the other side of the world from me. My cousin was there holding her hand as she took her last struggling breath after a couple of years of suffering with COPD. This then unconsciously took a turn towards the circle of life.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Working Hard Or Hardly Working?

Where is all the busyness taking you?
Is it really accomplishing very much?
You read and write, and work all night
Just to remain in place, as such

Three Interests – 29th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

I have three main interests.

Together, they don’t add up to much,

but they keep me busy.


Maybe you’ll never guess what they are

because you don’t know who I am.

A first, somewhat trivial, attempt at an awesoku. Like a Tanka poem, it has a 5,7,5,7,7 structure; however, you count the words in each line, not the syllables. 5 lines with a total of 31 words. The first 3 lines must have a beginning and an end. The last 2 lines don’t have to stand alone; they can be one continuous sentence broken up into 2 lines. This is commonly referred to as a run-on sentence.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Work Is Therapy

Work nourishes noble minds
Is your potential being fulfilled?
Self-indulgence often finds
Any motivation is being killed

Let Them – 28th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 17 Comments 
Let them find the puddles
   you pointed out — 
   what you call falling,
   they call jumping.

Let them fly
   to figure out fortunes.

Let them forget my name
   and find their own.

Let me still be here
   but let me let them go.

Shared with dVerse Poetics – Let them

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The First Two Things Before Acting

In a short time, you’ll be nobody and nowhere
What’s the point in getting into a tizzy?
The task at hand, considered with care
Remember your purpose before getting busy

On the Usefulness of Emptiness – 27th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments 
The abyss is not a grave, but loam,
  where clarity grows in silence like a seed.
This soundless soil is your truest home,
  and substance springs from this unhurried need.

The hour’s worth is found within its frame;
  breathing room is only born with space.
The soul’s deep labour is to bear its name;
  emptiness gives meaning to this place.

Inspired by a Substack article at Words of Taoism (link lost)

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Sweat The Small Stuff

All the small things underfoot
Soon becomes big enough
If you want to learn to run
Better sweat the small stuff