2 a.m. Cosmology – 29th October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 11 Comments 
2 a.m.
and that cat
is crying again

fed just thirty minutes ago
apparently
not enough

my brain is soggy
my feet are slurring
another spoonful
in the bowl
and back to bed

into lucid dreams
and erratic thinking
the universe is revealed
to me

of course
we’ve got it
all wrong

the universe
is inside out
and the earth
is all around
the edges

and the centre
of the universe
is in the middle

time and space
behave differently
as you go closer
towards the centre

under the earth
there is nothing
but hell

the more we move
towards the middle
the closer to god
we get

having this
almost fully formed
and ready to submit
to science

the cat cries again
at the end of the bed

for fuck’s sake!

A true story, as we nursed our old, sick cat back to health a couple of weeks ago, making sure that he ate whenever he wanted.
Shared with dVerse Poetics – irreverence

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Character Is Fate

For those you invite into your life
Character is the best measure
Success and failure are just chance
Share with those who deserve your treasure

Emo – 28th October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

give thanks
to friend and foe
they have all
helped you grow

you say
you don’t care
but you care
more than you know

Ah, teenagers!

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

We Were Made For Each Other

We are mutually interdependent
No matter how much we hide
We must be there for each other
To see philosophy applied

After Party – 27th October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment 
At the Emperor's extreme extravaganza
   peasant participation is prohibited;
   a primal pissing contest fantasy
   of the fragile currencies exhibited;

Youth, beauty and cash flaunted;
   ego boosters for mediocre men
   parading really hot regular girls
   and their pretty privilege again;

Free champagne will tomorrow remind
   the terrible company kept;
   all the cab fares, bought and sold
   until under the carpet swept.

Inspired by steph’s ‘the hot girl economy’ article and comments

Today’s Daily Stoic poem

We Reap What We Sow

Crimes often return to their teacher
Karma can not be cheated
The going around comes around
As the hypocrisy gets repeated

Crema – 26th October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Mediocrity has become the default
Sold as more is always better
Filtered is a useful bitter assault
But sometimes you need the crema

So give me the shot
Give me the cure
When everything is slop
I demand something more

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Three Parts, One Aim

The moral, the natural, the rational
Examine your soul and nature’s way
Make the meaning of words intentional
Right now – put them on display

Heart This – 25th October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments 
From a safe, soft couch with the television on,
  they blessed the wreckage with the sign of the cross;
Typed “thoughts and prayers”, hit post, job done,
  they smelled no smoke, yet claimed the loss.

No call, no knocking with casseroles in hand,
  just pixelated pity floating through their feeds;
Drowning in a sea they’ll never understand,
  while they toss empty hope out as glorious deeds.

Inspired by Joe Nichols Substack write ‘Thoughts and Prayers, You Pitiful Bastards‘ (maybe requires subscription)

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Two Tasks

Be a good person and do what you love
Everything else is just a waste
Time is short; find what to get rid of
Live well and live in grace

The Lunch Room – 23rd October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Aliens are interesting,
microwaves are boring.
All the circles have been cropped.

The principles of parsimony
have few followers
while there are benefits in believing.

This time is different,
beyond sophistication
and there’s money to be made in the bubble.

Are you insulted when asked
if it’s plugged in?
Not everything is a conspiracy.

The answer you seek
is often closer than you think.
Start in the lunch room.

Inspired by a David Elikwu newsletter, which included this little story:

In 2015, we discovered aliens again.
A group of astronomers at Parkes Observatory in Australia noticed these brief, intense, and seemingly random bursts of radio information; mysterious signals that seemed to be coming from the further reaches of space. They called them “perytons”.
For months, the team worked to identify the source. It could be neutron stars colliding. Black holes merging. Or potentially, hopefully, signals from intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
Emily Petroff was determined to solve it. But she’d noticed something odd. The perytons only appeared during working hours. Australian working hours. Never at night. Never on weekends. Always during the day when staff were in the building.
She eventually realised that every time they detected a signal, the telescope had been pointed in the rough direction of the staff break room.
After deep investigation, she discovered the truth. The alien signals weren’t coming from deep space. They were coming from staff heating lunch in the microwave.
The microwave happened to operate at 2.4 GHz, close enough to frequencies the telescope could pick up.
Even though microwaves famously work within Faraday chambers, anytime someone impatiently opened the door before the timer finished, the magnetron was still running, sending a burst of radiation that the telescope dutifully recorded as a cosmic event.
Despite months of investigation, with sophisticated equipment and some of the world’s best astronomical experts, they were all undone by a microwave twenty metres away in the kitchen.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Show The Qualities You Were Made For

It’s easy to blame your circumstances
There’s always someone better off than you
So what happens depends on your choices
Let your effort and skill shine through

Are You Sleeping? – 22nd October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Give your hopelessness a name

– Hibernate your dreams away –

The darkened cave cannot tame

Pretensions that will remain



Sleep through the alarm again

– Here’s a quiet hollow to stay –

Nurture that you can’t explain

What could I say but my name?

Inspired and mostly re-arranged words from this post at Tiny Hearts

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

It’s Easy To Get Better But Better At What?

Self-improvement is a noble pursuit
Though vanity can corrupt the process
Getting better at stuff will dilute
The better person you wish to express

Title Fight – 21st October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments 
Ding! Ding! Ding!
  Do you leap from bed
  and into the ring?

Are you light on your feet,
  bouncing off the ropes,
  in the box seat?

Or is the inner critic
  a crooked referee
  and a white flag cynic?

Knockout or submission,
  pinned in a sleeper hold
  or full-nelson position.

In the corner, quietly sweating
  will those rubber arms rise
  to face the arena’s setting?

Tonight’s main event:
  Me vs. Tomorrow, no disqualifications.
Step forward with intent
  and meet your obligations.

Are you ready to face the day?
Inspired by a David Elikwu newsletter.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Heroes, Here And Now

In vain, we hope our name remains
But now is the time to be praised
You’ll never hear your legacy explained
Let your contemporaries be amazed

Stuck – 20th October 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 5 Comments

Anxious at the infinite
I don’t want this freedom at all
Give me a set of blinkers
To hide my eyes from the sprawl

Confused at the crossroads
Each horizon out of vision
Clutching a map with no borders
Contemplating each decision

Paralysed by all the choices
Someone, please, close the prison door
Take away possibility
I don’t want it anymore

The paradox of freedom.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Marks Of A Good Life

If lives provide the answer to meaning
There is no question other than being good
Self-control, courage, freedom and justice
Are the trees to grow in your wood