Author: shaun tenzenmen

Australasian DIY music specialist and practising poet, amongst other things

Lighthouses – 16th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 16 Comments

Who’s gonna care for you?
Who will show the way?
Who will find the light
When the sun descends each day?
A child to be exploited
Manipulated and prostituted
Bad choices made with mirrors
Doors shut, firmly booted

Who’s gonna guide you?
Point to the right direction
A childhood to be wasted
Staring at its reflection
Dark fingers will be clawing
Promises made with gold
Sorrow is your struggle
Before you get too old

19th Mar 2026 – Shared with W3 #203 – lighthouse. More abstract than the prompt requests but as I’ve run out of time to write much this week, I submit anyway.

And then I find a book that I really love, and I talk about it for a while so I won’t seem like I hate everything. In other words, I hate everything!

Matthilda Bertstein Sycamore
Fatman report

A Step Closer To God – 15th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Another winning goal, another scoring shot
A sharing of the soul, a stirring of the pot
Climbing the ranks, lightning to the rod
Living life with thanks, stepping up to God

The title was taken from a commentator’s proclamation during last weekend’s Sydney vs. Fremantle AFL game as Buddy Franklin scored an important goal after the halftime siren.

Why on earth do you need thanks or recognition for having done the right thing? It’s your job.

Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I was able to safely get on and off the roof to put down some waterproof tape. Let’s see if it works.

Together Again Today – 14th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Both on our way
By the end of the day
– A feeling we’ll no longer miss
It’s been a while
Since sharing our smile
– And feeling so gentle a kiss
When we are not there
We know we still care
– Each other we’re thinking of
Wrapped in each other
Like arms of a mother
– The comforts of deepest love

The older you get, the smarter your parents get.

David Foster Wallace, paraphrasing

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the choices we have. On the 11th I wrote that Amy’s mum and dad would come and look after our cats but now Aing is back in Chiang Rai and her and Now will be able to do it for us.

The Week That Was – 23rd September 1979

The Test – 13th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Take a different view
Step up a ladder high
Pretend to be a bird
Launching off to fly
Look down at this earth
Asking questions why
Draw a deep breath down inside
Before letting out a sigh
Unable to see beyond space
Unable to touch the sky
Now is the time to ask yourself
Exactly who am I?
Don’t be content with the answer
Or waiting for a reply
There’s no test impossible
The test is just to try

No story can contain you.

Ivan M. Granger

In The Woods – 12th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

The trees are listening, they hear your tears
Wept on your journies through a thousand fears
The fight never-ending, til its bitterness arrives
Waiting in the woods, a world no one survives

2nd Apr 2024 – Submitted to Word of the Day Challenge

The cosmic fate of humanity is somewhat mysterious, but we should act ‘as if’ what we do matters. This belief will then become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to a good life.

Jules Evans paraphrasing Roosevelt

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to have little Kim come and sleep on me and next to me last night along with Cap sleeping next to my pillow. I’m not sure what brought on Kim’s sudden affection. She seems very happy.

Castrated – 11th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

No time for making babies
Taking care of all their needs
Better to have a dog or cat
And stop it spreading its seeds
Need a friend, not a kid
Even if they are naughty
You can get one when you want
Even if you are forty
But don’t let those suckers breed
There’s enough already
The world doesn’t need more
Just enough to remain steady

If you treat an individual as he is, he will stay as he is, but if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

Goethe

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to Amy’s mum and dad (again!). They will come and feed our cats whilst we are in Bangkok for three days.

Robot Human Robot – 10th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Busy turning humans into robots
Learning to love the monotony
Building robots to resemble humans
Forming a ridiculous dichotomy

It has always been hard for me to understand myself, to know why I work and love and live. Yet it is fortunate that such matters find a way of caring for themselves.

Rockwell Kent

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for all the workers that helped clear the streams a few years ago so that it is not so easy to flood the land around us during the rainy season. I wonder where they all are now.

Age Of Fight – 9th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

We are the ‘Lord of the Flies’
This is where we stand
Making arbitrary decisions
Over who owns which piece of land

Unable to share our daily bread
Our garbage is other’s dreams
Pretending value on bits of paper
Nothing is what it seems

Is it just within our nature
To claim one’s way is right?
Past, present and future
A never-ending age of fight

24th Mar 2024 – Submitted to Ragtag Daily Prompt
3rd Jun 2024 – Submitted to FOWC with Fandango

People who cling to their delusions find it difficult, if not impossible, to learn anything worth learning.

James Baldwin

Jones In Space – 8th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s gonna take sometime
To reinvent myself
It’s a long way
To become somebody else
Cowboys to astronauts
Reaching past the skies
A never-ending journey
Of whats, wheres and whys

There’s probably something wrong with you if you never doubt yourself.

Ryan Holiday

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for feeling good. I felt bad for too many days and it was getting me down.

P.V.S. – 7th July 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s a good morning with mists descending
A light rain forms teardrops on the greenest leaves
A darkened dampness permeates the heart and mind
But we’re safe inside, taking it all in
It’s a lazy day of literature and brandies
Hours spent staring at crackling fires
A comforting smell of libraried shelves
Over shadows the comings and goings of the day

8th May 2024 – Submitted to Writer’s Workshop Prompts – literature

Always stick to what makes you weird, odd, strange, different. That’s your source of power.

Robert Greene

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I could take time off school (and hopefully still get paid) for the last nine working days when I’ve had Covid. I feel like I have finally come out of the other side and have some energy back.