The Ink, The Blood – 14th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – micropoetry (not very micro but it is one of the forms included) with a few links back to some borrowed or paraphrased lines of inspiration including one* that I forgot to take note of.

ink, blood; blood-ink spills,
chiselled in stone, etched in flesh,
carved on bloodied bones;
the words of God in your hands
to be rewritten again.

shaken foundations;
in the cracks, a seed takes root
until flowers bloom;
you must destroy to create
a space to keep all your words.

then, in audience
they become your cross to bear;
these words are your sword
to cut through stone, to lay bare,
making sense of destruction.

in theatres of hate,
coliseums collapsing
at the empire’s feet;
when the wind whispers its threats*
fanning the flames of defeat.

libraries burning,
the word soon becomes the deed;
the chants of dwellers,
dismiss not, their dialect;
gather our friends, make a storm.

ink, blood; blood-ink spills,
in the cracks, a seed takes root
these words are your sword
when the wind whispers its threats
gather our friends, make a storm.

On A Good Morning – 12th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

1.
Down in the deepest depths, a mind swirl of grab-bag memories enmeshed with fantasies and stimulating synapses, comforting the realities of the day ahead.

2.
A familiar haunting incites instant action followed by a brief hesitation, a sigh and conviction.

3.
Muscle memory stirs a stiffness, a stumble towards the mirror. Dusty eyes grab at sticks to mint a mouth full of dry and dirty breath.

4.
Sat, for a moment of relief, as brushing teeth and emptying stagnant waters. Now the body reacts, switching on the internal engines, and pulling the winter choke for an idle putter.

5.
Hungry mewlers wait impatient at the door, screaming ‘me first, me first!”

6.
But this is my house so it’s ME first and the engines crank faster, pushing against the weights of gravity and fighting for air. It’s now or never as the land of the living rears its ugly head and the end of the tunnel approaches.

7.
Turning to the criers, those who would die if not fed immediately, expectant eyes pointed skyward. Soft munching sates, satisfied crunching placates.

8.
A process nearing completion, the final pieces unconsciously acted. Stood naked under frozen falling waters, cascading and foaming to wash the dusts and sweats of the night.

9.
The machine is fully prepared with gut juices flowing, gears grumble complaints made for a refuelling. Let’s check what’s at the cooling station and charge up.

10.
Now to greet the sun, wave at the sky for the day begun and get the old grey matter ticking.

Inspired by this post at Poetry Pals and shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – list poem

The Messengers – 11th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – free verse and inspired by this quote

“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”

― Pema Chödrön

The actions were not mine
yet I filled them with disappointment,
taking offence where none was intended;
– there’s a message here for me.

I landed face-first in a puddle of mud
and couldn’t deflect the embarrassment
by laughing and wiping it off;
– there’s a message here for me.

When you poke a finger deeper into my wounds
you are not affected by my irritations,
in fact, they may spur you on;
– there’s a message here for me.

When the rewards came your way,
only resentment came along mine
and I could easily justify that feeling;
– there’s a message here for me.

When all that resentment bubbled over,
a daily garbage collection of anger,
regrettable bitter words were unleashed;
– there’s a message here for me.

If I could only just be like you,
yet not be filled with a jealousy
that I use to punish myself further;
– there’s a message here for me.

I’m so stuck here with this other me,
paralysed by an illogical fear,
that I can’t live without this other;
– there’s a message here for me.

Lucky for me I found the perfect teacher,
The angel on the other shoulder
that speaks with clarity
to deliver these messages.

Once A Tempest – 9th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

We used to be a storm

– good luck if you got in our way!

When the day became night

was the time to come out and play.


With no thoughts in our head

our hearts were often left wrenching,

and those who had succumbed

were left in a dreadful drenching.


Now that time has tamed us

to curb our once awful powers,

the hurricane tempest

has become just scattered showers.

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – ‘showers’

Dharma – 8th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Unable to see the ends of the universe, we reach out to each other to make sense of it; grasping at notions to inspire comfort in the chaos and impose order on our lives.


our minds can travel

to the far corners of thought,

disconnected from

our bodies, glued to the earth;

so we must meet each other.

A tanka prose poem shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – tanka and inspired by the thoughts of Jayaram V posted here.

Pavilions – 7th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

after slow thawing

Spring winds know bitterness

the place to break hearts

before the new blossom starts

pavilion of misery



~ when darkness yields, a new dance ~



let’s fish together

gathering the red bean seeds

on ten thousand trails

joy blooms when the heart exhales

pavilion of happiness

A tanka puente for Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – micropoetry and inspired by Tang Dynasty poetry examples found here at eastasiastudent.net

Dakou Generation – 6th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

A scrapbook of the zeitgeist
dedicated to the dakou generation;
It’s the new sound of the city –
Catalogue cut-outs from trash migration,

From cunning middlemen with a gash saw
to a table set up on university streets;
Cultural anarchy in black market bags –
No refunds and untraceable receipts,

Youth, as water, will find the way –
The Catcher In The Rye has New Pants;
Horizons broaden for the time travellers
prepared to take half a chance.

Inspired by this article at beijingscene.com by Jeremy Goldkorn and Su Fei back in 1999.

Da kou is the Chinese term for catalog cut-out CDs and cassettes that have been gashed with a saw to prevent resale. Record companies in the West can save money by destroying surplus stock, but the law only requires that a small gash be sawed into the disk or cassette (and packaging), which renders the product “destroyed,” in a legal sense. The music is still listenable: sawn cassettes are easy to repair, and on CDs the gash only ruins the last song or two of an average-length LP. Cunning middlemen then sell the gash-sawed items as “scrap” to poorer countries where copyright laws are lax, such as the People’s Republic of China.