Month: October 2025

Breakthrough – 11th October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

mind wandering
down the road
surrounded
by boredom

the crossroads
a hazy mirage
in the distance

breaking through
to find
the rainbow’s end

on this road
the same road
connections
will synchronise

the crossroads, mind wandering, in the distance, breaking through, a hazy mirage, down the road, the rainbow’s end, by boredom, on this road, surrounded, to find, connections, the same road, will synchronise

a hazy mirage, will synchronise, connections, down the road, the rainbow’s end, mind wandering, in the distance, breaking through, the same road, by boredom, the crossroads, surrounded, on this road, to find
breaking through, on this road, the same road, a hazy mirage, in the distance, by boredom, mind wandering, surrounded, the crossroads, down the road, will synchronise, connections, to find, the rainbow’s end

I wrote this poem in a small space in a notebook and could see that many of the lines still worked together, mixed around, so that’s what I did, perhaps ending up with four poems, though I liked to reiterate the point of looking further on down the road.

Through The Nine Circles – 10th October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 13 Comments

Written for the NaPoWriMo day 13 prompt (from back in April):
Donald Justice invented a form that has six-line stanzas that use lines of twelve syllables, and while they don’t use rhyme, they repeat end words. Specifically, the second and fourth lines of each stanza repeat an end-word or syllable; the fifth and sixth lines also repeat their end-word or syllable.
This poem uses for inspiration and some paraphrasing of a piece, Penumbra, by Sunra Rainz here, along with some key lines from other poems

1 – from Elongated Ellipsis by Sanaa
2 – from Be Careful Who You S(c)hpritz by Dwight Roth
3 – from Penumbra by Sunra Rainz
4 – from What the Rain Brings by Ariel Kings

Shared with dVerse OLN #393

A small town thinker where days arrive dressed as debts1;
drowning in the shallow end of dirty waters
and he who chases two rabbits catches neither;
it’s been this way since we arose from those waters;
Letting your words fly loosely, they never come back2,
spinning out on a spider’s web from front to back.

But within lies an unmuttering of whispers3,
embalmed and buried until called for by demons;
they’ve paid the rent and brought a suitcase of gloom4,
unbalanced, unsure if they’re angels or demons;
The shadow self whoops its way under softer skin,
The bottom of the bottle rendering the skin.

Deader longer than anyone can remember
secrets are no longer kept so close to the heart;
new worlds will be sung alive by an old guitar
and a choir of old vultures pecking at the heart;
The waters rise again, to which we must return;
When they recede once more, we shall never return.

October Again – 9th October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 20 Comments

You keep on coming back for more
Every year, the change is the same
I shouldn’t be keeping the score
There are no winners, it’s no game

Every time you keep coming back
Has started meaning less and less
And as my skin begins to slack
I’ve stopped caring, I must confess

I’m still wishing for more returns
Even if they’re filled with dread
To just keep on is what one learns
Cos it’s better than being dead

Shared with dVerse – Poetics: October

Stone The Crows – 6th October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

Save your scratch in a small vase

Paris, they say, is better in pairs

Arcs of triumph encircled by cars

Scare the children, and no one cares

State your case to the makers of taste
The eyes on you and me, they see

Heats the spring into summer’s haste

Ate alfresco with a steeping tea


Cider salted by the tears we cried

Peach perfume bought on the cheap
Tired of all the cobbled streets tried

Peek at all these secrets to keep

Rat rummaged garbage made art
Night is made of stuff and thing

Earth must reveal its true heart
Sign the road along where angels sing


Atoms burn bridges over the moats

Stone the crows, we’re taking notes

Written for prompt #7 at the Chimeric Poetry Scavenger Hunt:
An (extended) shadow sonnet, where the shadow words are anagrammatical (because, why make it easy?)! This took a long time, even with help from AI to find the anagrams that may also rhyme. This is also why it is extended, as I couldn’t figure out what to trim after all that effort. Did my ideas translate well enough through all the restrictions?

For The Love Of Gods – 4th October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 10 Comments

Eros

Passionate desire

A longing fire

Philia
Loyalty, trust

Respect: a must


Storge
Familiar foundations

Comfortable bonded relations


Agape
Grace unconditional

Compassion by principle

Ludus
Playful flirtation

Light dance relation


Pragma

Invested practicality

Commitment and compatibility

Philautia

Understanding self-care
Balanced and fair



Mania
Tormented obsession
Jealous dependent possession

Shared with W3 prompt #179:
Write 5 separate Hay(na)ku poems, each about a different aspect of love, including but not limited to:
Romantic love, familial love, self-love, unrequited love, enduring/timeless love.
Each poem should stand alone but together create a layered meditation on love.

After reading through others’ entries for this prompt, I was inspired to give it another try, particularly after learning more about the Greek Gods of love. Above is the new entry, below the original (titled Curriculum).

~~~

initiation
matures, understanding
flourishing above beasts

~~~

comforted
unconditional inspiration
release and return

~~~

within
mind open
education, experience, esteem

~~~

unanswered
time expands
changes one’s perspective

~~~

beyond
last orders
through all seasons

~~~

Eros

Passionate desire

A longing fire

Philia
Loyalty, trust

Respect: a must


Storge
Familiar foundations

Comfortable bonded relations


Agape
Grace unconditional

Compassion by principle

Ludus
Playful flirtation

Light dance relation


Pragma

Invested practicality

Commitment and compatibility

Philautia

Understanding self-care
Balanced and fair



Mania
Tormented obsession
Jealous dependent possession

Safe Word – 3rd October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 7 Comments

Cheekily shared with dVerse – Tuesday Poetics. Always considering a different angle on a prompt, my mind took me to a place that I’ve only heard about (honest, guv!), guided by the Cambridge Dictionary entry for ‘paddle’, which gave me ‘We provide a variety of toys, such as floggers, paddles, cuffs, and ropes.’ I didn’t really get a ‘song’ into the poem but the sounds are clear and obvious.

We provide a variety of toys,
for adventurous girls and boys;

Whack! Whack! 


A sharp crack

lands across a welcoming back.




With floggers and paddles,

over the sub the mistress straddles;

Zzip! Zzip!


A consenting courtship

at the whims of her loving whip.





A kink of ropes, clips and cuffs,
or a silken bondage tied with trust;

Squeal! Squeal!


The trussed and bound reveal

the boundaries of this fetishistic deal.



Blindfolded and restrained,

the traditional roles clearly reframed;


Swish! Swish!


A safe word so devilish,

“No sex, please, we’re English!”