The Song Sparrow – 26th February 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen

Shared with dVerse Poetics Tuesday – use a classic opening line as an ending line. I chose Charles Bukowski’s Ham On Rye, ‘The first thing I remember is being under something.’ I’m not familiar with the story but I ended up with the idea of Hank waking from his dreams and memories of the night before.

I was terrified, my sweaty hands shaking
a brittle-boned cold heat fever
a pillow headache, suffocating
on a bilious, swollen tongue

thick with last night

smoky lungs, coughing iron filing lumps
of congealed blood
bitter, soggy pills in a pail.


She had shimmered in the weak light
through the foggy frame
whispered strawberries through rotten teeth
my ears are catching golden secrets
often repeated on other nights
in other city lights


As the working men clocked out
boots echoing toward small kitchens
a small brown bird tapped rhythmically
at the window
to bring my relief to an end
and the first thing I remember
is being under something.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

To Each His Own

When you give a piece of your mind, it’s refused
Just as you would do when verbally abused
No one feels better, nothing is achieved
No point to giving, if nothing is received

14 thoughts on “The Song Sparrow – 26th February 2026”

  3. You’ve woven terrific sensual imagery into this poem, Shaun, to lead your reader to the final line. When said aloud, ‘brittle-boned cold heat fever’ is like stuttering and teeth chattering; I could feel the ‘bilious, swollen tongue thick with last night’ and smell the ‘whispered strawberries through rotten teeth’.

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  5. Great write Shaun – painting a picture of the morning after or withdrawal, that intersection of physical sickness and surreal, memory. Your rhythm is jagged, which fits the ‘shaking’ theme perfectly 🙌

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