Singing In Your Honour – 15th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I love the time that I didn’t love myself,
the past plays upon my mind;
I was too busy with pleasure to consider
what the future would find.

I wandered the quiet forests of imagination
waiting for everything to be mine;
Disappointment followed me there, to the tree
wishing to turn back time.

Every sigh a plea, the heartbeats heavy
when will my love find me here?
Building towards a crescendo, I found
what I wanted, too late to hear.

The sun was always hiding, slipping through
my fingers, clenched white in fists;
Missing the chance pleasure of the rain
even as it so casually persists.

Inspired by this piece at Ask Molly, which I found via Maia’s Tiny Hearts here

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Present Is All We Possess

All that we possess – given to us all
A lifetime to impress – ‘now’ remains so small
Today is a gift – due to expire
Let it be the lift – leading to inspire

Sydney Harbour Blues – 14th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 27 Comments

Shared with dVerse Poetics – landscape. This one took a turn and describes the mixed feelings I have about one of the most beautiful cities in the world, one that I very much enjoyed meeting and living in for twenty-plus years.

Let me tell you a story,
one that denies what is seen;
because my eyes were open
without understanding what had been.

The lemon eucalyptus was unknown
to those such as me;
star-eyed sailors
on a voyage of discovery.

By the time of my arrival
all the murdering was done,
so I celebrated the widest skies
while never holding a gun.

The abundant harbour waters
the bridges that were since built,
were symbols more than cricket
to hide away our guilt.

Where the forest meets the city,
right down to the water’s edge,
all the sorries were insincere –
the surf repeats its pounding pledge.

The floods and fires – lost control –
so nature’s revenge befits;
glass houses return to the rocks,
like an opera that never quits.

I can hold you in my mind’s eye
now that I’m so far away.
Learned that anywhere is everywhere
and everything is nothing anyway.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Self-Deception Is Our Enemy

When we think we already know
We’ve halted our chance to grow
Meet ego with hostility and contempt
24 hours a day – no one is exempt

Few Feathers – 13th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 26 Comments

I’ll never say that I miss you,

the bird that left few feathers for my pillow,

an ache I will never confess,
but whoever runs their fingers along my bones 

will feel your name etched on each one 

with a cornerstone of soiled sentiments.

This poem is really a collaboration, with only a little input on my part. Lines 1, 4, 5 and 6 were written by EC at the erroneous choices blog, in a short piece titled ‘lies we live under’. It stood out to me as a brilliant, poetic little paragraph that I thought I could use the idea, along with the last two words, as an alliterative full stop. EC was gracious enough to allow me to use it in full and so here it is, with my two added lines, shared for the dVerse quadrille prompt – bird.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

One Day It Will All Make Sense

It seemed like a disaster
But became a lucky break
We are a terrible forecaster
But reason makes no mistake

The Hills Outside Zoro – 16th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 13 Comments

I’m no fan of trigger warnings – this is real and happening in the world. We NEED to deal with it.

~~

without conjecture
without further classifications
they were HUMAN BEINGS

– two ‘girls’
– two ‘foreign’ girls
– possibly ‘runaways’, ‘problem’ children

one thing can be classified though
and that was the act
– ‘rough fetish’ sex –
(useful adverbs, not useless adjectives)
yet fetish implies consent

and how do we know?
because Mister E. said so
casually
describing how the bodies were buried
in the hills outside Zoro
after being strangled to death
during the act.

this is no longer ‘A Serbian Film’

“please arrange payment
to this Bitcoin address
3cr9tpvegeg4zg ppeddzmmc94hzusebhn”

Shared with dVerse OLN #403. Angry.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

That Sacred Part Of You

Blessed, we are, with reason
to navigate all circumstance
To improve ourselves is sacred
Responsibility doesn’t favour chance

Happy Little Bluebirds – 12th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 17 Comments

taking the first step
hope is on the horizon
so, so far away

morning mists rising
following rainbow’s release
will reveal the way

Shared with Senhai Saturday #42 picture prompt and Reena’s Xploration Challenge #420 – hope

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Seeing Things As The Person At Fault Does

Nobody thinks they are wrong, even when they are
They think they’re right, they’re just mistaken
Compassion and tolerance can heal the scar
Our duty, as we understand it, remains unshaken

Give And Get – 11th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment
Courtyard Tables, by Glenn Harrington

I hate my job,
  the lousy tips
  and pernickety customers.

Sure we can accommodate you
  but bring your own almond milk.

In fact, why don’t you just eat at home?

Showing off the latest ladies showing off,
  the restroom mirror never lies.

Take a seat, take your time,
  I am here with my insincere smile.


I love my job,
  the great tips
  and pernickety customers.

Sure we can accommodate you,
  it’s our pleasure to bring satisfaction.

Please come back again and bring a friend

Those ladies, Oh, those ladies,
  all cleavage and shining eyes.

Take a seat, take your time,
  I’m here all night.

Shared with a November Ekphrastic Challenge for the attached picture.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Living Without Restriction

What do you trade for success?
Coerced to become a slave
Kissing ass just to impress
And remain in your gilded cage

The Greco – 10th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

The foundations laid,
as inquisitive children
built the systems of their own
Inquisition.

~~

Now they’ve got our third lives
from logging information.
Stackdriver instrumentation
monitors our drunken exhibitions.

Every interaction, generic and mundane,
but the tracking libraries are all the same.
Tick the box to improve services.
These illusions are encrypted.

Secure is just a promise
guarded by tall fences,
a mere annoyance to a human
but integrated automation
collated all the pieces,
quietly building its own system
with algorithm manipulation.

Dumping memories into a mind palace,
a million monkeys get to work
sifting through pictures of our pets
to welcome the white-collar apocalypse.

This write was inspired by the Substack article ‘The banality of surveillance’ by Benn Stancil. There were many new ideas and phrases to me in the article so I’ve added the links that I followed here too. The Greco is the name of the AI used in Ocean’s Thirteen.

From the notes in the article, consider this:
The United States Department of War….uses Claude to bomb Iran. It uses Claude to bomb Iran “at machine speed rather than human speed.”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Find Yourself A Cato

Stand outside yourself as you are about to sin
Do you see the person that you want to let in?
Between an angel and a devil, there is you
Your witness can keep you honest and true

The Self – 9th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

The self is a story

of selective retelling.

~~

The coincidence of this
specific selection of atoms
spun together,
makes our meanings absurd.

Imagine yourself as not you.

The mirror is imagination,
a short-term illusion
to which we are devoted
with great discipline.

Yet the infinite knows
nothing of me.

So I tremble at the emptiness,
to fill a cup with pain,
or fill it with joy.

Inspired by and paraphrased from The Marginalian article ‘Why You?’

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Find The Right Scene

From the good, you will learn to be better
These are the bootstraps on which to tug
Leave behind the cynic and the upsetter
Let them remain in the holes they’ve dug

My Only Friend – 8th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 23 Comments

Your trinkets, they light up my eyes,
gifts glowing through the smooth ice.

You open my world to all weather,
and guide me along every river.

Tethered to your familiar voice,
your songs, a loyal choir.

You carry my family‘s smiles,
and lift me when I am tired.

Amidst your million reminders,
you are my quiet conductor.

What would I hold without you?
In my hands, you are the truth.

Shared with dVerse MTB – couplets and half rhymes. The title is inspired by Aussie band God and their song ‘My Pal’ with the haunting line “You’re my only friend……and you don’t even like me.”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Don’t Unintentionally Hand Over Your Freedom

Would you give your body for someone else to use?
So why give your mind to any crook that comes along?
We don’t let people cause us physical abuse
Train and protect our minds to be mentally strong

Excuse Me, Sir – 7th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

This was inspired by a writing exercise that went like this:
What’s going on in the picture?
What do you see that makes you say that?
What else do you see?
What do you see that makes you say that?

Repeat. And again. And again.
Consider keeping a journal and doing this exercise a few times a week. Practicing often will help you understand how much detail is part of your daily life. Background detail is what makes the world feel vivid and real — a quality that you want to imbue all of your creative work.

On Jalan Alor, the riders buzz through

avoiding the double-parked cars

Lazy feet scuffing pedestrians 

approach their favourite sambal stalls

waiting for the 4 o’clock rain to pass



The mountains meet the clouds

casting doubt and desires

From apartment windows

no one is looking out

because it’s just another day in K-Hell

and their stories go…


“Our religion dictates we can’t hold hands

or kiss in public

but I can’t wait to jump his bones

behind closed doors.”



“I shouldn’t have upset the boss like that,

it was just an off-the-cuff remark.

I wonder how much longer I have to stay here

facing the wall”

“I’m diving for gold!

Well, actually, I dropped my phone,
but the brochure said it’s waterproof

to a depth of six metres.
It should be ok – I’m standing on the bottom.”

“Did you call a taxi?

You know,
it’s better to avoid the holes in the road.

It’s been raining anyway.
Better hop on.”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Don’t Trust The Senses

Hold all your opinions up to scrutiny
Emotions can lead us to wrong conclusions
Our eyes don’t always see objectively
Putting too much trust in to our illusions