What I See Is All Around Me – 15th November 1987

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What I see is all around me
Poison gas comes to surround me
Unhappy until it’s found me
What is all around me?

Acid rain burns up my home
And all the things I’ve grown
With all the love I’ve shown
I feel so alone

Throwing smoke into the sky
We don’t even question why
Who’ll be standing by your side
When the world begins to die

I see the clouds in the sky
As time keeps passing me by
I sit alone and wonder why
As the clouds keep passing me by

I see a hole in the atmosphere
And wondering what I’m doing here
The future seems so unclear
I wonder what I’m doing here

17th Oct 2025 – Ozone holes, Bhopal and Chernobyl, along with Mutually Assured Destruction, all added to the general zeitgeist of fear in the 80s.

Johnny Looked Sad – 8th November 1987

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Johnny looked really sad
Looked like he’d killed his dad
Stood outside in the rain
His face etched with the pain
No one said a single word
Least not that anyone heard
Hands in pockets he trudged away
He’s been like that since yesterday

19th Oct 2021 – I have such a clear image in my mind of the photograph that inspired this poem but cannot find it online anywhere. Perhaps I’m misremembering or making it a combination of other images. These will give you an idea at least:

Badhead – 24th October 1987

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Badass motherfuckers
Skating on the sidewalk
Rad thru the precinct
Smashing up the billboards

Ride til you die
And skate for your life
Crashed out
Wheels split either side

Badhead, motherfucker
Badhead, shoot that sucker
Badhead, riding high
Badhead, watch you fly

17th Oct 2025 – I wasn’t really a part of skate culture and no one in our village had a skateboard, preferring BMXs and then motorbikes. Skateboards didn’t make much sense for fun or for transport. I did learn of its connection to punk through The Stupids and some other US bands. I seemed to understand that it was cool and rebellious without particularly knowing why. At least, until a little later when ‘the man’ tried to stop kids skating everywhere.