Screened Out – 14th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

If I were a doctor, I’d prescribe a good book
That can be just as powerful as any meds
Perhaps a minute with Leo could get a look
Or that 3-page sentence from The Infinite Jest

If I were a prosecutor, I’d demand some essential reads
Re-education would make for a better place
Let’s see where some Crime and Punishment leads
Libraries are the rehabilitation of the human race

If I were a prophet, I’d gift you with empty pages
Write your own stories, trusted and understood
Everything is repeated again through the ages
Twain, Xun, Chekov, Murakami – it’s all good

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

This Isn’t For Fun, It’s For Life

Your life is not a parlour trick or meant for show
Pleasure is found in the philosophy that helped you grow
Learning is for life, not just to debate for fun
Every moment needs advice on the way things should be done

Grim Days – 13th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 23 Comments 
For twenty-six English years
never experiencing weather
     —except those two weeks complaining about the heat
     and that year of snow, not having to go to school—
grim days, followed by more grim days.

To Australia to enjoy another twenty-plus years
of all the weathers in one day, every day
     —except snow, which only the rich could afford,
     skiing around Kosciuszko National Park—
good days, followed by even more good days.

Then Thailand, for who knows how long,
where the weather is upside down
     —winters are sunny and temperate,
     summers, wet, wild and grey—
taking me home again.

Written for dVerse Poetics weather prompt and inspired by the depression felt on grey days, even here in Thailand’s hot rainy season.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Take Charge And End Your Troubles

Did the things you fear come to pass?
The struggles came, but didn’t last
Take charge and understand prevention
End your troubles early with intention

I Had To… – 12th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 15 Comments 
Gap fill exercise:

JUMP

__________     just to get a refund.
__________    with only one side of the story.
__________    angry at their stupidity.
__________    once the refund was approved.
__________    to be part of the community.

Answers:

through hoops
to conclusions
down their throats
for joy
on the bandwagon

The teacher in me jumped out for this dVerse Quadrille prompt #353
A little bit of fun.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Make The Words Your Own

It’s all been done before
So practice what you preach
Your actions are worth more
Than what the philosophers teach

Dispatches – 11th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment 
A zombieland nurtured on cheap bread;
The mysteries paved over, its magic fled.
Who are the writers now that everything is read?
The rivers ran dry, revealing the bed.
      Mere trifles and amusements exhaust the eyes.
      Are these dispatches discovered in disguise?

Somewhat inspired by the first part of the Substack article The Highway Kind by Henry Begler

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

No Time For Theories Just Results

Habit beats theory
This is the real world here
Situations keep coming
Theories are not a career

Old Stories – 10th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s a long way from the telling,
the whisperings diffused on the breezes;
Reverence paid to ghosts;
a tabla-rasa written as the parent pleases.

Early chapters of setting scenes,
a paragraph guide to maintain flow.
So repeated as new calendars came,
a belief from which love cannot grow.

The current arc pleads for understanding,
yet fails to question its own morality.
The here and now, where others live,
holding on to their own stories of humanity.

Whatever it is, it’s just a story.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Perfection Is The Enemy Of Action

Splitting gets us nowhere fast
That all-or-nothing distortion
Progress over perfection contrast
Don’t get it out of proportion

Totally Useless – 9th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 11 Comments

it’s not not fun
when it’s not happening to me
from non-diplomatic tweets
to expletive-laden threats
made for anyone to see.

he’s not totally useless
he can be used
as a terrible example—
the world’s most anticipated
obituary.

Written for dVerse MTB – negation. Lines 6,7 & 8, I believe, were made by someone here as a comment on another’s poem but I forgot who it was. It was too funny to let go and not use it.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Stick With Just The Facts

Your brain likes to add extra information
To complicate even the simplest acts
Growing assumption and then expectation
It’s better to stick with just the facts

Dupes – 8th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Now we’re duplicating and dividing
Parallel repetitions synchronising
Reverse engineering matching mimics
Ghostly carbon copy and paste gimmicks

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Start With Where The World Is

The world is never where we would like it
But that won’t stop us getting started
There’s no waiting for better things to come
Or waiting for the uncharted to be charted

Struck From The Record – 6th August 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments
by Carl Mydans

Stories that fell into the hole
so that no distractions could be made.
A single gunshot wound to the soul.
The images remain unseen, unpaid.

by Arthur Rothstein

Lives suddenly non-existent;
documents denied by the punch,
but the memories are persistent.
History is always just a hunch.

unknown photographer

The belief remains on their faces
but the message must project strength.
All the poor folks kept in their places
and their stories maintained at arm’s length.

by Russell Lee

Those long-gone faces returned to haunt,
their stories born again to be told.
New deals sold short would finally taunt,
as their futures would slowly unfold.

Inspired by this article by Stephanie at Extracurriculars:
Hole-Punched History
In the FSA archives, photos of The Great Depression are marred by an empty black void, forever obscured by the perfunctory click of a hole-punch.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

There Is Always More Room To Manoeuvre Than You Think

Hard times can be softened
Tight squeezes widened
Heavy loads made lighter
Movement makes enlightened