Why Don’t You Just Die? – 29th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment
Bird and Boy, Rahat (1994)
The cell door opens, but no light comes through,
   just a guard's fist and a dog's snapping jaw.
Thirty-three years of this, though changing too,
   the blocks where guards once kept a fragile law.

They took the books, the mirrors, the hotplate,
   removed our blankets for a single sheet.
Toothbrushes replaced with ones short and straight,
   walking our laps without shoes on our feet.

Still touching hope when the radio plays
   Abeer Nehme for three minutes a day.
Then I feel human, despite the malaise,
   as Gaza burns a hundred miles away.

They ask,
"Why don't you just die?"
The guards sneer.

   I'm still here.
      I'm still here.
         I'm still here.

Inspired by the titular article by Nasser Abu Srour at Equator magazine about life as a Palestinian inside Israeli prisons.

“I have decided to write because things do not find existence outside the borders of language, not even genocide. I must write about the slaughter in Gaza; about its famished men, women and children; about its drowned sea and about its ability to rise again; about the world’s indifference to what has happened there and what is still happening there; about how the major powers barely even acknowledge this crime. I must write about Palestinian prisoners, because a war is still being waged against them; the Israeli prison authorities have not yet declared a ‘ceasefire’.”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

A Cure For The Self

Through nurture and nature we form our traits
Some with negative consequences
Philosophy and all it investigates
Brings positive outcomes to all our senses

Breakfast In Gaza – 28th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment 
Spoons still clatter each morning,
  amongst the rebar and dusted bread.
Idle chatter around the fallen awning,
  auntie still insists we make the bed.

But first, we must wash the dishes,
  perhaps there will be time to play.
Even knowing worse, unspoken wishes,
  it’s another day off school today

No reception from the satellite,
  let’s make do with our imagination.
This inception of al fresco light
  shall become our new foundation.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Check Your Privilege

Some people are sharp and others, not so much
Not everyone has the same head start as you
Be patient with those still searching, as such
Check your privilege before all that you do

Jamais Vu – 27th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Once, going home to chase old memories;
is this old house truly the one I see?
A character in my documentaries,
walls whisper alienation to me.

Your face is familiar, but who are you?
You talk to me like I’m someone you know.
Taken for granted yet still ‘baby blue’;
scared of any other places to go.

The bathroom mirror is asking me too,
Who is this impostor who takes my name?
Every morning, a case of jamais vu,
The ‘I’ in ‘me’ is no longer the same.

Inspired by Colleen’s comment on my old poem ‘Ten To’

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Where Is Anything Better?

Is there anything better
Than the suffering of your own mind?
If there’s another answer
Tell us all what it is you find

Our Game – 25th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 10 Comments 
Let me get you a drink;
   that is all I can do.
With a sigh, let us think,
   in the dark, with the brew.

It's our game from the start,
   in the blood of our night.
Through the mist, from the heart,
   in the grave—made it right.

Through the years, on the way,
   for a friend, for a bit.
At the end of the day,
   on the fence, we should sit.

An anapestic poem written for dVerse – Meet The Bar. Possibly, not quite a ballad…

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What’s On Your Tombstone?

The ladder of success is short
When it comes to your epitaph
All that success amounted to nought
There’s nothing after the laugh

Mistreated Reminders – 24th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 13 Comments 
These I have loved amongst many others.

That green-handled oval hand mirror,
     dusty, with paint that would peel and crack.
Held just right, it allowed me to squeeze
     those difficult to get pimples on my back.

The old dirty Lino floating under the rugs
     collecting snot balls and hair in the corners
Those rugs made a comfort of the floor,
     on which I danced like my favourite performers.

The old dirty bed clothes where everyone sat
     would become the warmth that each night needed.
The glass in the window, sagging with age,
     so often slammed shut and mistreated.

These little nostalgias are a cold comfort,
     prickly reminders of all that was
I don’t want to hold on to them anymore.
     All these have been my loves.

Written for dVerse Poetics: The Great Lover. I like to reminisce and be nostalgic but it is becoming a reminder of feelings that will not be repeated. While I spend most of my time analysing my own past to understand who I am, I’m also conscious that the little time left to us is being wasted in the process too. This poem could have gone on a lot longer (and maybe one day it will). I think I mentioned this elsewhere, but it brings to mind the Big Black lyric, ‘I know what a liar I am, I should know me by now.’

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Somewhere Someone’s Dying

Thoughts and prayers count for nothing
Bad news is everywhere, every single day
Mindless sympathy doesn’t help those suffering
Deeds count more than just to say

Gut Feeling – 23rd July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

After the fact, a story takes shape
A fairy tale that is no lie
Convinced by your own cover
Suggestion reacting to stimuli

Is it reason that came before action
Or is that just from a gut-feel?
The left may not know of the right
But together they can steer the wheel

We believe in our most plausible guesses
Filling in the narrative gaps
We are unreliable witnesses
Think twice before you trigger the traps

Another little write inspired by a David Elikwu newsletter about how the left hemisphere of the brain acts as an interpreter for our actions, even after we have carried them out.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Receive Honours and Slights Exactly The Same Way

Let go without attachment
Receive without pride
Everything can be taken away
Take it all within your stride

Candy Crushed – 22nd July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Inspired/paraphrased from Chapter 4 (?) of Osho’s Life, Love, Laughter.

‘Are you there?’
I repeated until I heard.

‘Sober up’
I said.

There goes time
rolling into the valley of death.

‘Are you just passing through…’
unanchored and rootless

playing Candy Crush on the temple steps?

Pray the door open in the morning
to counter your own cunning.

Surrounded by a collective conspiracy,
obedient and carrying a box of conformity.

Go back to the pure mirror,
the born freedom, as the sky
before being hypnotised.

We all depart with empty hands;

Everything held was a dream.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

No One Has A Gun To Your Head

Every noble deed is voluntary
You have the option of being rude
If the life you want is solitary—
it’s contained within your attitude

Tiny Songs – 21st July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

When you see me, I see myself
Like a lonely mirror, we cannot see
without the other

Knowing who you are, I see myself
recognised within your gaze
A friend, perhaps, or passer-by

Our insistence, as we see ourselves
through distortion and dilution
in shapes we’ve never seen before

When I see you, I see myself
I meet myself as I truly am
waiting on the other side

The tiny songs we sing, I sing myself
to make a chorus of intentions
a harmonic panoply

Inspired by this write at Maia’s Diaries

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Made For Working Together

Dogs have no obligations
They can sleep all day
But for human relations
Working together is the way