All Sins – 6th February 2026

~
written confessions
burned or buried in the sand –
you are my witness.
~
shame cannot survive being
spoken in this space.
~
a quiet intervention
within the circle;
a therapy for family –
can all sins be forgiven?
~

a moral compass,
bent to the will of power;
broken on purpose.

A choka/senryu shared with Tanka Tuesday #50 – cleansing


Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Don’t Seek Out Strife

We can agree that peace is better than war
So the choice to struggle – what is it for?
Out of control, we’re afraid to sit still
When the reasoned choice would be to stop and chill

Liker – 7th February 2026

Like a single soggy cornflake left in the bowl, you’re a disappointing ending.
Like a pubic hair on a hotel soap, you’re an intimate violation, offending.
Like a hiccup in a eulogy, you break the moment with awkward spite.
Like a sock perpetually damp from a leaky boot, you’re a stinker, all right!

Like a wet handshake in a steam room, you’re a clammy compromise.
Like a toothache in a novocaine dream, you’re a dull, persistent surprise.
Like the squeak of polystyrene on a filling, you grate on my very nerves.
Like a vibrator in a library, you’re as deeply inappropriate as deserves.

Like the tang of a coin pulled from a wishing well, you’re metallic and tainted with bad taste.
Like a vulture circling a car with a flat tyre, your hope is morbidly misplaced.
Like the fungus on a neglected potted plant, you’re a sign of a deeper rot.
Like a terrible sixties movie remake, you are from the land that time forgot.

Like the last roll of toilet paper, clinging by a perforation, your support is single-ply-thin.
Like a fire alarm test during a nap, you’re a shrill and scheduled ruin.
Like a cigarette break in a downpour, you’re a miserable, fleeting treat.
Like the ambient laugh track on a cancelled sitcom, your joy is canned and obsolete.

Like a participation trophy made of corroded tin, you celebrate an empty try.
Like a pixelated pornographic blur, you’re where the details go to die.
Like a mayfly with seasonal affective disorder, your brief life is also glum.
Like a jellyfish beached and melting into grit, you’re a failed, gelatinous crumb.

Like the X-Ray of a swallowed wedding ring, you’re a costly, internal mistake.
Like a pigeon with a gammy leg, you inspire the pity of a nagging headache.
Like the click of an empty water pistol in a standoff, you’re an anticlimactic threat.
Like the silence after a whoopee cushion at a funeral, you’re a joke no one can forget.

Shared with dVerse Poetics – Similes! This write is very much inspired by John Cooper-Clarke’s Twat, which you must read here.


Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Fear Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Succumbed to what was dreaded,
is it only the paranoid who survive?
Self-control keeps us level-headed
and able to continue to thrive.

The REDACTED Files – 5th February 2026

Written after seeing some disturbing images of REDACTED with REDACTED. I don’t know if they were part of the REDACTED files or if they were real but sadly, it seems likely.
Shared with W3 #197 – erasure poem – redacted


Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Steady Your Impulses

Soaring highs and crushing lows
Impulses always keep on coming
Ask yourself: Who is in control here?
Get your steady engine humming

Axis Mundi – 4th February 2026

pagoda

Shared with What Do You See #326 picture prompt

A reliquary, stone and timber,
void, earth, water, wind, and fire,
shinbashira pendulum
that sways to quell the quake’s desire.

A cosmic axis, a connection
from human to the divine,
A transcendental protection
in sacred mandala’s design.

Hear the peaceful water’s fall,
the way cannot be denied,
Shadows span the temple tall
in the mountain countryside.


Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

On Being Invincible

Able to parry any blow
without flinching or reaction
Our reasoned choice will know
the best course of action

Always – 2nd February 2026

hall
ways to the vanishing
point me the way forward,
let me out!
trapped!
this nightmare never ends;
it starts over again.

A corridor poem about a corridor. A form invented by Lesley Scoble here, and a syllable count of 1,6,6,3,1,6,6.


Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

A Proper Frame Of Mind

Impulses no longer pull my strings
No longer having to argue all the things
That self-control, happiness brings
Independent, self-sufficiency sings

Not My Beach – 29th January 2026

Pixels, faith, dust

Beaches I will never swim,
blue and bright;
Mock me with your gourmet food
under the moonlight.

You thrust a quiet knife in
with each sunset post;
As I eat my thinning stew
with old dry toast.

Share if you must

Shared with dVerse Quadrille #240 – trip. I didn’t use the word ‘trip’ in this, but ‘sunset’ could be easily replaced with ‘trip’s’. I prefer it this way, though. This poem is a reference to complaints about people posting their holiday photos online without regard for how that might affect others. I personally don’t know how I feel about this either way but that could be because I have been in a position to be able to experience beautiful beaches and gourmet food.


Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Keep It Simple

Everything can be as simple as said
This problem may be your last
The complexities are all in your head
How soon it has all passed