Tag: death

The Big ‘Oh!’s – 31st July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 11 Comments 
Decades rush towards
an ever distant double-o.
Crossing off the milestones
one by one
we find less to celebrate.

And when lids finally close,
eyes open to a new world
with a big 'Oh!'
"That's what it all meant."

Destined to write poetry forever
next to Wilfred, Walt and William,
like old friends.

Written for dVerse – Launch and these thoughts came to me after reading Henry Rousseau’s tombstone epitaph, written by poet Guillaume Apollinaire:
“We salute you Gentle Rousseau you can hear us
Delaunay, his wife, Monsieur Queval and myself
Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates of heaven
We will bring you brushes, paints and canvas
That you may spend your sacred leisure in the
light and truth of painting
As you once did my portrait facing the stars, lion and the gypsy”

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Your Career Is Not A Life Sentence

Your work does not make you immune
From the end arriving soon

Fading Name – 5th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 6 Comments

I had another reminder that time is running out

Will there one day be a legend?

Is it for that I strive?

Nothing left here

No thing

Left




It seems that the further I go, the further back I get*

I’ve got shovels for deeper digs

But I won’t let you cry

Please shed no tears

For me

Now

A made-up form, lines of syllables; 14, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1
* appropriated from Mudhoney

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

No One Said It’d Be Easy

Nothing can deter the good from honour
Nothing will lure them into what is base
If doing good was easy, everyone would do it
Pleasure and power always need more space

Russell’s Burden – 21st June 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

Tonight, the moon is a ghost behind the veil,
but my own spirits force me to set sail,
Youthful bravado will be the death of me;
the moon is behind a veil.

The fog laid low, a dirty sheet,
but speed and danger taste so sweet.
My bones grow cold, I must sleep;
the fog, a choking sheet.

My nineteen years, all lost to the light;
Mom and Dad – it’s icy black tonight;
It will be a misty morning for sure,
now I’m lost to the light.

I’ll wait for you, somewhere just out of sight,
somewhere, just out of sight.

Written for Day 19 of the 2025 GloPoWriMo:
write your own poem that tells a story in the style of a blues song or ballad. One way into this prompt may be to use it to retell a family tragedy or story, or to retell a crime or tragic event that occurred in your hometown.

This poem tells of a school friend who crashed his motorbike one foggy night in a nearby village. Though we weren’t especially close, it was still a shock to me. The title is a play on his real full name.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Take A Walk

The mind will wander with a walk
There one will find a clearer head
Time and space away from the talk
Breathe a little and walk instead

Two Wrongs Etc… – 6th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 24 Comments
The image shows the girls of Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab on February 25th, who were all killed in an attack attributed to the United States and Israel.

Inspired by and paraphrased from this anonymous message from a young man in Iran published by Equator, commenting on how the fervour he feels from outside the country does not consider the fallout of the supposed heroic actions of their saviours.
Shared with Poets and Storytellers United #217

The diaspora is manic.

Disconnection,
bordering on hallucination.

Speaking a second language
hearing only the first.

Opposite things can be true
as enemy flags flow
in harmonic waves.

Rhetoric raises ghosts
outside of reality’s window.
Feverish certainty
knows no consequence.

Outside is only more noise
in solidarity with itself.

But here,
real,
live,
breathing…
‘symbols’!

Fantasy politics, safely
in faraway fields,
grain-fed on grief
no one has to harvest.

Take these children,
lay them neatly on the altar
of an unnamed dawn.

Call it tomorrow.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Don’t Tell Yourself Stories

Are the tales we tell about ourselves really true?
Was everything so certain and so real?
Don’t create a fantasy around everything you do
When for others it holds no appeal.

No Encores – 1st March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Not a new metaphor by any means but this is my take on the theatre of life. Another poem, belatedly, written for Punam’s dVerse prompt of using opening lines to books as closing lines to poems. This one is “Here is a small fact: You are going to die” from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Act 1, Scene 1:

Scriptless and shoved onstage mid-scene,
hot lights glaring;
applause and judgment circling
for lines never rehearsed.

And yes,
every actor exits,
no matter how fierce their monologue.
A trapdoor beneath every spotlight.

The curtain falls without exception.

Act 1, Scene 2:

Between the acts of this cabaret
there is that strange, unchoreographed stretch;
where the stage lights hum
and the lines grow thin in our hands.

And those unscripted pauses,
those missed cues and improvised lines…?
They are only the bright, temporary glare,
the hush before applause or silence,

Act 2, Scene 1:

and the quiet truth
that for a moment,
against your choosing…

you were here
in the light.

Act 2, Scene 2:

You owe the audience nothing.
You are simply here, for a brief while,
and your time is yours to fill
or to simply endure, as you must.

No obligation,
only the raw,
temporary fact of existence itself.

Act 2, Scene 3:

Birth – a brutal act that makes me wonder, ‘why?’

Finale:

Here is a small fact:
you are going to die.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Where Philosophy Begins

Exercise reason, question your beliefs
Consider everything taken for granted
Take the first steps towards inner peace
With the seeds, just yesterday, planted

Farewells – 12th February 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

A poem using the memento form, inspired by That Wedding Day by Benjamin Tonkin

One last little look at the sun;


please don’t forget to say


goodbye.


It’s ok if you want to run;

please don’t forget to say


goodbye.


I knew it was over and done;

please don’t forget to say


goodbye.


When two divided becomes none,

please don’t forget to say


goodbye.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Protect Your Peace Of Mind

Keep guard over your perceptions
It’s not a small thing you’re protecting
Don’t sell out to simple deceptions
It’s your peace of mind you’re respecting

Post Epilogue – 21st September 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 24 Comments

I’m sending you all a letter
You’ll receive it when I have gone
It may not be anything much
But may mean something to someone

But the meaning it will contain
Multiplied by my own demise
Even if only for a time
There’s not much left to give surprise

This is a reference to scheduling posts far in the future that will be delivered after I die. This could be one. Who knows?
26th Sep 2025 – Shared with dVerse OLN as not many eyes made it to this one.

Fill This Space – 10th August 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

The hole in this room is getting bigger
as your withering whittles away at you;

The hole in our hearts gets bigger
as you shed your final skins;

The hole fills with yet more space,
even the perfumes are blown away with the wind;

The hole may be all that’s left to hold on to
after the burying of bones;

There’s a hole in our memories
where none had ever been needed;

The hole keeps growing to fill the space
until it is born anew.

Watching the end of lives can be crushing.

Distraction – 8th January 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

The media golden penny
Shared and liked by millions
More poisoned than many
And governed by reptilians!

The rabbit’s path is lit
To keep you keen and focus
Enjoying the wade-through shit
Until the shepherd woke us

When the golden penny dropped
Baring the true face of the media
That’s when the distraction stopped
To build your own encyclopedia

The following is a letter from January 8th, 2024, delivered today from the past

Dear FutureMe,

It’s now 30 years since leaving the UK. Now it seems like it doesn’t make much difference. After ten years it was still quite a novelty and being in Australia was still filled with wild emotions. But since then it felt like the UK was no longer something I understood or was a part of.

Though I count Thailand as my home now it is still a little tenuous to stay here and if I leave here in the future it definitely won’t be back to the UK but most likely Australia (unless Amy and I end up somewhere else).

You didn’t write much about this at the time but Amy and her family are going through a typical Thai-style drama at the moment and I wonder if it is all settled by the time of receiving this letter.

Amy’s man-child useless brother and his girlfriend are due to get married. Whilst that should be a cause for celebration we can see that this is not anything to do with love but purely circumstance. When quizzed on his reasons for marriage her brother purely said it was because he was getting old. He said this in front of his bride-to-be.

And so why has she agreed to this?

Part of the condition of marriage is that Amy’s mum will pay off their debts with her newly acquired money from selling her apartments. She will also have to pay a dowry to the bride’s family. So the bride and her family do get some benefit from this arrangement. And what the future might bring for them, who knows?

She now lives in Chiang Rai whilst he is in Bangkok. They don’t talk about anything they are doing and they have no plans for the future. Everything looks like it is just a short-term plan to get out of debt.

Amy’s brother contributes nothing to their family and is selfish beyond belief except for his one or two friends who he treats to food and drink every time they meet. Essentially, he is buying their friendship. His mum and dad treat him like a prince, forgiving him for any wrong he commits.

He’s drunk every day and can’t even piss in the bowl. If he comes to our house again I will instruct him to go piss in the garden.

Amy is obviously upset at the treatment he receives in comparison to the way she is expected to behave. It is a stereotypical patriarchal behaviour that is perpetuated by her parents but not something Amy will stand for. But she also has to bide her time and play the game, so to speak, to make sure that she gets her fair share of inheritance in the future. Otherwise, he is likely to receive everything and even so, he might already end up pissing away the inheritance money before they even expire. We’ve seen it happen in other aunties’ families.

It surely is a frustrating situation though it doesn’t impact me directly at this stage. I just have to be supportive of Amy and listen to her troubles when she needs me.

It’s the start of another year and I’m not much into resolutions or planning for the year, just taking it as it comes. I’m still very happy with my place in the world on an individual basis and hope it can stay that way for the foreseeable future.

I hope this letter finds me still happy and content and maybe even a little wiser.
Take it easy
PastMe

Today I’m feeling:

A little better than last night, after a long sleep. I don’t think I even made it to 10pm.

The medicine I took seems to be helping my sore throat but it could also just be transforming into a runny nose and cough. I’ll try to stay positive and maybe that will fight off the viral demons.

I woke up during the night to pee and then took a while to get back to sleep as I was thinking about teaching verb tenses in class. Far out, brain! Calm yourself down!

At school, there was the opening ceremony for the Lead Youth Conference and there was a lot of messages flying around because the room wasn’t full and so even though I wasn’t invited I was told to rush upstairs to help fill the seats.

George and Kru Tang were the announcers and this role is perfect for George as it requires sounding sincere when it isn’t! He’s an expert at this. Job well done!

It did make me think about times when I was working in a corporate environment and we had big dos like this. Then, as I was younger, I just found it all boring. Now it’s still boring but fascinating in its facade.

Around midday, I was talking with David about nothing in particular when George walked around the corner on his way out. He gave a big smile to David and started a banal conversation, so as I was standing there, I looked George straight in the face but he wouldn’t give me any eye contact. He soon left, without a word to me.

This started off a conversation with David, where I finally told him all about what had happened between George and me in the past and he was pretty shocked.

David also told me about some behaviours that he noticed himself with George and that, knowing what I told him, confirmed his suspicions about his character.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 8

Today I’m grateful for:

The spare couple of hours at the end of the school day, which I used to fill up the car and buy some cheese at Makro before going back to sign out, though I ended up chatting with students past the sign-out time!

The best thing about today was:

Playing volleyball with the ‘naughty’ girls (Fah, Nicha, Namking, Tonaor) when I had an hour break between classes and wasn’t sure what to do during that time.

As we were playing, other students came and joined in, including some of the Japanese boys who are here for the conference.

I was surprised at myself at how good I felt when playing, after feeling less than stellar yesterday. My body is still feeling good about itself now that is evening.

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

Due to the conference this morning, most of my grade 12 class were absent. I knew this would happen and thought that I would just interview whoever was there about the topic that we are working on (sport).

At the class start time, there were no students at all and I stood chatting with David whilst waiting. Eventually, two students arrived so I thought perhaps more would come but the only others to come arrived about 15 minutes later and only came to the class room as they had nowhere else to go!

I told them it’s fine and that now that they were here, we could study. They all cried, ‘No – free time’, I said that if they stepped in the classroom, then we would have to study. Again, they cried ‘No’ and I laughed.

I think that in the end only 9 of the 46 students came and chilled in the classroom and I decided chatting with David was more interesting (as described above) and then some of the M3 students came to talk with us for about 20 minutes and by the end of all that the class time was finished anyway.

Chill, chill.

Something I learned today?

A boy in Baipad’s class was killed in a car crash two days ago. She told me that she had talked with him earlier that day. I think it made her feel numb as she didn’t really know what to say.

This morning, we talked about it a little bit and I asked her what she would say if it had happened to one of her friends sitting there with us. I told her that she had to prepare herself for this. She lost her father a few years ago, both her cats last year and now a classmate. It never stops!

Come Sail Away – 18th August 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Face the world alone with your suspicions
Silently wake to the morning’s pledge
Whisper in the darkness all your secrets
Your novel nears the river’s edge

Board the vessel unable to steer
The ache of nostalgia for the past
Alone again, your secrets spilled
The river flows along, wide and vast

Submitted to Wordle 667 at the Sunday Whirl

Today I’m feeling:

Surprisingly good despite only 5 hours of sleep and waking up still drunk. I know it will catch up with me later, but right now I’m getting myself set for the flight back to Chiang Rai.

Health:

Physical: 6
Mental: 8

Today I’m grateful for:

The Casa Luna homestay in Siam that was in a good location and reasonably priced. Nothing extravagant but everything that we needed.

The best thing about today was:

Getting home. It’s nice to go away but it’s also nice at home. 

I’m also surprised how well I feel considering how much I drank last night.

Something I learned today?

Ipswich lost their first game of their return to the Premier League, 2-0 at home to Liverpool. From the look of the highlights, they seemed to do well for the first 60 minutes, though.

I took this picture yesterday at Union Mall because I was surprised to see a Junji Ito t-shirt here.