Author: shaun tenzenmen

Australasian DIY music specialist and practising poet, amongst other things

Fragile Joys – 1st May 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

After singing the city song
Of car horns and conversation
I know the place where I belong
To enjoy a quiet vacation

These are tiny, beautiful things
The quietness once forgot
Broken only by the bird that sings
Of my invasion of its spot

And like a child that’s sent to bed
Before the party has even started
Remembering all I did and said
As life happens once I’ve departed

I leave so that I may return
To the shiny, furious noise
Money can’t buy the time to burn
These fleeting, fragile joys

Inspired/paraphrased from the first part of this post at Spinning Visions

A Pointed Smile – 30th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – finish. Inspired by the real-life struggles of a 16-year-old student, I reminded her to look at this situation with the positive spin that she usually can muster but cannot see right now. I remember that feeling, though I was never able to muster any positivity at the time.

One day, it will be gone and done,

a pointed smile towards the sun;

we made it to the end.

The trials and suffering, done and gone,

never slept on, always kept on;

well done, yourself, my friend.

Edit And Revise – 29th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

the story I write
I’ve been working on each day
revised over time
edited out false and foul
until finding happiness

one day it will end
I’ll look back and see the way
retracing my footsteps
laughing at the mistakes made
joyful at the freedom found

Inspired and lightly paraphrased from murder your darlings by V. Walker. Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – tanka

The Apple Toss – 28th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It’s a fruity proposition,

hoping for the best to be;

The women await their apples,

as the men descend the tree.

In Ancient Greece, any man who wanted to propose to a woman would have to toss her an apple. If she caught it, he would know she accepted his offer. If the woman did not catch it, he would have to propose to another woman and hope for the best.
Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – micropoetry

The Contrafiction – 27th April 2025

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Inspired and paraphrased from Some Thoughts on Mickey 17 by Jim Richardson and shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge

Out of the ashes of chaos media,
slogans brief;
ideas wax and wane;

participate and propagate,
only the expendable allows existence.


The contradiction;
the idea of choice as freedom;

each day, a sacrifice must be made
of the only significant resource.



A chance at life
given to illusion and leeches;

fictions created, narratives consumed;
enjoy existence at the expense of everyone else.

I Met My Younger Self For A Beer – 26th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 7 Comments

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – narrative poem and inspired by reading this verse from orla.writes

I met my younger self for a beer,
as if we were mates, long-time friends.
(The longest time)

He looked at me suspiciously;

In some ways, I did too
but my suspicion was of myself.

I told him, ‘You don’t know me yet.’

He gave me a silent sneer of disapproval
but was smart enough
to ask what I would like to drink

and even offered to pay for the first round;
obviously understanding there would be more.

This will take some time, I thought.
(The longest time)

“What’s it all about?” he said,
“Can you give me a clue?”

I told him that clues are all we get,
that you gotta just keep going
and that I often thought of Mum
slaving away, hour after hour,
day after day
and eventually, I would understand why.

“Let’s have another beer,” I said
“But just the one.”

Cheers – 25th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – free verse. Inspired by Chapter 2 of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

Underground men gather

in smoky dens of inequity;


Resigned sighing combined

with slow-dying monologues

given to the air;

~ Here, intellectual torment meets emotional suffering ~

Flying birds and brooms

cannot sweep away

the moral decay gathered in these rooms;


Grim guns sat with triggers cocked

raising a toast to broken thumbs,

the audience sniggers

at the truths unlocked;


The mirrors of the man,

egging ego on

until the final squalors squandered;


Empty pockets of destitution

degrading daughters to pawn their lockets

and prostitution


So, let’s be on our way…

A Bucketful Of Sand – 24th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 14 Comments


When you left, I promised myself
to build us a mountain
for our future;

each day, a bucketful of sand;
building this monument
towards the sky.

When you return, in my dreaming,
your journeys at an end;
together then;

each day, the winds of time will take
a bucketful of sand,
until it’s gone

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – ekphrastic and WDYS #285 picture prompt and the idea came after reading Time Passes here

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #19 and my quick thoughts:

Trepaneringsritualen – Getting Neubauten and Keuhkot vibes from this. As others mention at bandcamp – riveting, terrifying, menacing! A good Thursday morning downer.

Haunted Horses – If this was the first time I heard this style or genre then I would love this. Very good.

Gay Beast – This is my kinda thing and already familiar to me. I’m always looking for more music along these lines.

Lunar Mistake – I like this, it could grow on me. The vocals put me off on the first song but are nice on others. Kinda soft-prog. Gonna listen some more.

Atrium Carceri – I don’t have time for this. I’m not a young man anymore. I get all the ambient noise I want at 8 pm in my jungle village.