Observation Affects The Outcome – 24th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Life is a quantum woman,
known, but unable to be described;
Lived but never solved
and so the mystery has survived.

To mark a line has no meaning
unless there was something before,
but thinking on it wastes time
when living is what it is for.

Looking at it makes it disappear,
like horizons in the Himalayas;
Seek and ye shall not find
such wisdom from the soothsayers.

The temple is not outside;
prayers are shared in the wrong direction.
Breathing in, breathing out,
let go your ego’s protection.

We’re involved in eternity,
our houses will come and go,
and while everyone knows who you are,
you’ll never really know.

Inspired by and paraphrased from Osho’s Life, Love, Laughter.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Truly Educated Aren’t Quarrelsome

Education negates the fights
Keeping to one’s own affairs
Don’t worry about wrongs and rights
Arguing what no one cares

Lemongrass – 23rd June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Cooking under the tin roof
the humid rains will pitter-patter,
the chef remains aloof
to the oil’s sizzling splatter;

The house becoming eager;
the wind’s historical waft,
a heritable recipe keeper;
a plate that’s quickly scoffed;

A herb of refined taste,
enhancing by its bright flavour;
no tall stalks to waste,
tightly chopped to savour;

I like it! But what is this?
the dish has been disguised,
a little ginger, a little citrus,
my taste buds smile, surprised.

Written (after the fact) for the GloPoWriMo Day 6 prompt:
write a poem describing the taste of the item in Column A, using the words that appear in that row in Column B and C. For bonus points, give your poem the title of the word that appears in Column A for your row, but don’t use that word in the poem itself.

LemongrassPitter-PatterEager

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Long Way Around

Some days the long way around rewards
But you miss everything close to hand
Everything you were working towards
Was far simpler than you had planned

Mud And Sheepskin – 22nd June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

With the first stones of the First Intifada,
I learned the rebuilding of my world
with thumbs in mud, not marble,
sheepskin stretched across olive tree twigs.

Brushes dabbed on UNRWA flour sacks,
ration-stamped ghosts bloom into orchards.
A boy with a door that still closes,
an olive tree outside, the settlers forgot to cut.

Art as resistance, refusing erasure,
imagination with its back to the wall,
signing its name in cracked clay and smoke,
the skies hanging from barbed wire.

Every scene is saying no
every line a road I’m not allowed to walk,
every frame a document, a moment,
steady as a heartbeat in the flour dust.

Inspired by the artists of Palestine, making the most of what they have left available to them.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Definition Of Insanity

Carrying on against the grain
Hope is not a strategy
Doing the same thing again and again
The definition of insanity

Russell’s Burden – 21st June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

Tonight, the moon is a ghost behind the veil,
but my own spirits force me to set sail,
Youthful bravado will be the death of me;
the moon is behind a veil.

The fog laid low, a dirty sheet,
but speed and danger taste so sweet.
My bones grow cold, I must sleep;
the fog, a choking sheet.

My nineteen years, all lost to the light;
Mom and Dad – it’s icy black tonight;
It will be a misty morning for sure,
now I’m lost to the light.

I’ll wait for you, somewhere just out of sight,
somewhere, just out of sight.

Written for Day 19 of the 2025 GloPoWriMo:
write your own poem that tells a story in the style of a blues song or ballad. One way into this prompt may be to use it to retell a family tragedy or story, or to retell a crime or tragic event that occurred in your hometown.

This poem tells of a school friend who crashed his motorbike one foggy night in a nearby village. Though we weren’t especially close, it was still a shock to me. The title is a play on his real full name.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Take A Walk

The mind will wander with a walk
There one will find a clearer head
Time and space away from the talk
Breathe a little and walk instead

Transmissions – 20th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Nested in your ears
Rearranging the silent
To listen

Between the heartbeats fluttering
A vibration on the line

Codes sung to the nectar
A single note of noon
Stitching the sagging sky
Until a soft broom
Sweeps the last light

This is written for GloProWriMo 2025 and the prompt:
write your own poem that focuses on birdsong.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Calm Is Contagious

Be the calm, not the liability
Losing your wits will bring you harm
Counter the chaos for all to see
Be no liability – be the calm

I Made It Out Alive – 19th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 13 Comments

You found something in my lithium eyes

The leather belt left more than marks on your neck

As you buried yourself in bourbon and stink

Bonded by our death-wish

You would laugh as I would cry



Your mask was much stronger than mine

Mine as fragile as wet paper tissues

You love with the back of your hand

Waiting for your trophy wife to appear

You blame the powder and I blame myself



Grab your beers and go

I’ll call the ambulance myself

One last hug, I beg

As the apartment door slams shut

I’ll call the ambulance myself



And when you called and cared again

I bowed down to do anything, again

You came – you came and then left

Again, I called every day

Until you found your reason to make me stop



I made it out alive

Leaving behind the forsaken wasteland

That was your life, not mine

I made it out alive

Leaving you behind

This poem was inspired by a piece originally written by Shayne Rich on SubStack
Shared with dVerse OLN #410

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Stay Focused On The Present

The big picture can be overwhelming
And it’s better to get up close
Every step becomes compelling
And now will satisfy and engross

Fostering Ambiguity – 18th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

He said that’s not what he meant,
How was anyone to know?
When little more than a grunt was sent,
As part of his little show.

A purposeful misdirection,
From which he may wriggle free.
When under closer inspection,
There was little left to agree.

Inspired by a comment here connected with listening and modern-day communication.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Prepared And Active

A great soul surrenders to fate
Does not fight to correct the gods
Knowing when to push and when to wait
The universe rolls with the odds

Cragg Vale Coiners – 17th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 16 Comments 
Bronze Age ashes sleep to the north,
Roman coins whisper further south.
Down in Cragg Vale, 
   King David the counterfeiter
   shaved gold by the candle's light.
The Mytholmroyd Bridge remembers
   flooding at the Gallows Pole
   and every hanged man's shadow 
   on York Tyburn stones.

Shared with dVerse Quadrille #250 – myth, where De Jackson sent me off to Wikipedia to search for information about Mytholmroyd, a place I’ve never heard of before.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Offence Or Defence?

Vulnerable to the whims of fortune
Offence is endlessly exhausting
Make a flexible, resilient defence
With philosophy, undistorting

The Pedal Point – 16th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments
Quick and dirty ChatGPT image

I am not a ray of sunshine….
The sky seems full of loneliness,
aching to be more than a thought.

I’m neither sad nor bored, just………thin.

Stretched across time 

like a wire of infinite length, 

losing all its tension, its purpose.

A whisper in a hurricane,

or a single, endless note in a symphony 

that constantly changes its tune.

Let’s see who remains

once the air of mystery fades;
no apologies for my lack of interest.

Along with the two lines linked, this poem very much paraphrases someone else’s writing, but I didn’t take note of the author! I guess this could be considered a cento as these lines, and my own, got smashed together, inspired by this Substack post by Luciana Cole. I can identify with the feeling, though I, myself, am much brighter these days.
A pedal point is a sustained note during which the harmony above it changes in some way so that the overall sound becomes dissonant.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

No Shame In Needing Help

Someone helped you when you were born
You understood that you could always ask
No one will throw down their scorn
If you ask for help with a difficult task

Brighter Doings – 15th June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

So fuckin’ far behind, I can’t catch up,
overwhelmed with flashing multiple screens;
begging attention without a backup,
struggling to understand what it all means;

And today I don’t even like the words
I read and wrote across all the pages;
it’s always nouns when all I want is verbs;
I suppose it’s just one of those stages.

Maybe tomorrow will be different and everything will shine that much brighter.

Inspired by various things that I read and wrote today.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Listening Accomplishes More

Even with only one mouth
We can’t seem to shut up
If you ever feel in doubt
Stop joining in the hubbub