Tag: GloPoWriMo

They Are Poets – 11th November 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

there are words I don’t like

to see in poems

they are the liars

they are the poetic

and the words poets use to pretend

they are poets


I have not let these words enter

my vocabulary

I cannot bring them to mind

now that you ask

they don’t belong to revolution

or the masses

and they are the true poets

Written (after the fact) for the GloPoWriMo Day 10 prompt:
write a poem that uses alliteration and punning. See if you can’t work in references to at least one word you have trouble spelling, and one that you’ve never quite been able to perfectly remember the meaning of.

I guess I didn’t really hit this prompt but this is the inspiration that arose from it. Somewhat a manifesto.

In Silence – 14th October 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 12 Comments

Maybe not a helpful admission,
I’m not sure where I stand these days;
as the ground shifts
exposing each other’s rifts,
it hardens without permission
and uncertainty sings its praise.

The world, beautiful but broken;
my temperament wishes no further harm;
no left or right
or centre might
have, to me, truly spoken
and guided me towards a calm.

My reason searches for the true
to ease the burden of each other’s sorrow;
how easy it is to break,
to forget to give and take;
cautious and careful in what I do
when nothing is certain tomorrow.

Not knowing what I’m talking about;
does the world need to hear that voice?
Listening to all divergent views
makes me ever more confused
so that when still filled with doubt
silence is my choice.

So maybe I just stand with my art,
valuing the deed over the word;
to the fragile flickering spirit bring
a striving for such praise to sing;
At least, it’s a place to start
so that the silence will still be heard.

Inspired and paraphrased from the Red Hand Files (again!) #337 and for the GloProWriMo Day 20 prompt:
write a poem informed by musical phrasing or melody that employs some form of soundplay (rhyme, meter, assonance, alliteration). Also, the poem ‘In Evening Air by Theodore Roethke was suggested as an example, and I used the rhyming form, which I found quite pleasant and I think worked very well.

18th Dec 2025 – shared with What’s Going On – Silence

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #24 and my quick thoughts:

MockART – Some nice noise here that is keeping my brain active whilst trying to download an upload for my computer so that I can practice guitar again, since something has messed up one of the apps I like to use.  Not sure that I would listen to this at any other time though!

Wet Nurse – Fractured and somewhat scary energy here.  It’s interesting for sure but a bit too disturbing for me these days.  About 20 years ago I would’ve been all over this.

Meira Asher – Interesting punk hip hop that reminds me of some similar weird freaks I met from Japan in the 00s.  I like the more rhythmic tracks over the atmospheric ones.

Half Empty Glasshouse – I have their albums already but had forgotten about them.  Lots of time changes and genre warping.  This is my kinda jam for sure.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – ditto

Soul Mountain – 17th September 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

Here we are, in theatre;
The curtain raise reveals the maze.
Unrehearsed and shunted in,
along paths where no one strays.

Diversions come from friend and foe,
guiding away from the goal.
Pulling at ropes and ladders;
Atop the mountain sits the soul.

Chronicles come and go,
memories have been made;
but the search ever continues
until the final act is played.

Once again, a belated attempt at the GloPoWriMo prompts – this one Day 17:
write a poem themed around friendship, with imagery or other ideas taken from a painting by Carrington, and a painting by Varo.

A Lonely Chorus – 3rd September 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

My bedroom, dusty and rank
with teenage anger,
Putting the world to rights
through a cracked speaker’s static;
a chorus of voices chanting
in my lonely imagination,
the army I lead
from a mattress on the floor.

A spinning refrain, played again
and again
“Here you stand, my judge and jury.”

A dead mouse, a decaying
spider plant, the only witnesses
to these carpet-muffled pleas.
We stood together,
a council of the defeated,
alienated.

Jaded even before the fight;
“In gods they trust to hide the sins
which they commit themselves.”

Sullen and restless
we’ll decompose
our withered leaves,
settle into the dirty corners
anonymous
not forgotten

“We’re legion.”

Written well after the fact for the GloProWriMo Day Sixteen prompt:
try writing a poem that imposes a particular song on a place. Describe the interaction between the place and the music using references to a plant and, if possible, incorporate a quotation – bonus points for using a piece of everyday, overheard language.

As an angsty teenager, awkwardly looking at the constant depravity of the world, I latched on to anthems that united me with others, even if only in bedrooms across Britain. One such song that resonated with me was Theatre of Hate’s Legion, which I had bought (saving mum’s lunch money) on a 7″. My old dodgy record player had a method of allowing repeat plays of the record on the turntable, and so it was that one day I played this song 59 times in a row. I’m not sure why I never got to 60. My dirty, dusty bedroom housed myself, a tragic spider plant and a mouse that soon suffocated among all the incense smoke used to cover up the smell of cigarette smoke. It was a typically pathetic teenager’s bedroom. But I was convinced I was not alone and I was convinced that I was right.

Set Free – 21st August 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 5 Comments

Lies are the words that I use
when you look up hopefully.

Why is it seriously funny
that the truth will set you free?

All of the things that we feel
are a trick, a fantasy.

In the deafening silence,
we could just learn to be.

Lies are the light and the hope
in your eyes as they shine on me.

Within this blinding darkness,
it’s the truth I foresee.

Tie up my hands with your chains,
they are bound to set me free.

It’s all so clearly misunderstood
that the truth will set you free.

Written (after the fact) for the GloPoWriMo Day 11 prompt:
write a poem that incorporates song lyrics – ideally, incorporating them as opposing phrases or refrains.
Song lyrics are italicised, taken from All Lies by Nomeansno

Kaleidoscope – 22nd July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 15 Comments

Nothing is ever as good as it seems; float on a sigh,
all my imaginings and their themes float on a sigh;

Alone amongst friends and too busy to wait,
running nowhere and watching my schemes float on a sigh;

With a prod and a push, a light shone on me
where the angelic rainbow streams float on a sigh;

Splitting the prism, wandering in the wavelengths,
watching as your white-winged sunbeams float on a sigh;

So realise it forever, Shaun, you are now one lucky guy,
together we’ll build a world where our dreams float on a sigh.

Written for the GloPoWriMo Day 8 prompt:
write a ghazal that takes the form of a love song.

8th Aug 2025 – Shared with W3 #171

This Charming Man – 18th July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

The charmer has good game,
a new room every night’
A silence can explain
when the words don’t feel right;

Maybe old and spicy,
a smile that seems sincere;
Pearly blues so icy,
direction sharp and clear;

The holder of the cup,
a life that overflows;
Forgets the runner-up,
the one that no one knows;

This charismatic man
was always bound to be;
Winning since life began,
is definitely not me.

Written for the GloPoWriMo Day 7 prompt:
write a self-portrait poem, in which you explain why you are not a particular piece of art (a symphony, a figurine, a ballet, a sonnet), use at least one outlandish comparison, and a strange (and maybe not actually real) fact.

Galimathias Musicum – 13th July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 17 Comments

He’s a loose liver, a great blusterer1
Building a life out of pieces gathered in secret.
Gradually becoming a disaster, his signature
He’s a man made of many departures.

At an all-you-can-eat festival of bad decisions
Only a maniac would slice cheese with a chainsaw
Cosplaying poverty, becoming marginally less useless
Words are only understood when you stop thinking about them2

We need to understand that we are already living with the monsters
Forming a complicated cake of dissolved civilisations
A concrete monument made out of nonsense
A fake perfume of cum scented compliments

1I read this line in a book, I think, but didn’t take note when I saved it for use later.
2This line is from a Substack article, which, again, I forgot to take note of

This hybrid cento came together after collecting a bunch of phrases (mostly linked in the poem) and then applying them to the GloPoWriMo Day 5 prompt: write a poem inspired by musical notation and words from a provided list (found at the link). I went with the following:
“gradually becoming a disaster”
Death metal symphony
nonsense, monument, concrete, departures

I was stuck for a title until I dug around a bit and found this from Mozart, the meaning of which is:
“Galimathias“: A pseudo-Latin term derived from French galimatias (meaning nonsense or gibberish).
“Musicum“: Latin for “musical.”
Together: Roughly translates to “Musical Nonsense” or “A Musical Hodgepodge.“

This seemed entirely appropriate.

And though the resulting Suno AI song is very straightforward and nothing like a hodgepodge, I think that it’s quite enjoyable. Please give it a listen below.

30th Jul 2025 – Shared with dVerse Poetics – Music, Play on

Definitions – 11th July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I’m not a poet, but I write
to put these thoughts down on paper,
I’m no hero, but I will fight
for influence in this caper;

I’m not a real artist either
perhaps I’m swimming at the edge,
With faith but not a believer,
it’s only to myself I pledge;

Not really a teacher as such,
a student only when I please;
I say too little, say too much,
an expert without expertise;

I’m no writer, only writing
to fill up these empty pages;
No influence nor exciting,
no actor upon the stages;

I have no musical talents
always screeching into the void;
It’s an act I cannot balance,
never upset but just annoyed;

Am I a poet? You decide;
I don’t really care either way;
All too easily classified
I am or I’m not what you say.

Written for the GloPoWriMo Day 3 prompt: write a poem that obliquely explains why you are a poet and not some other kind of artist – or, if you think of yourself as more of a musician or painter (or school bus driver or scuba diver or expert on medieval Maltese banking) – explain why you are that and not something else!
I’m not so oblique though!

Life Is Jazz – 9th July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 10 Comments

Written for the GloPoWriMo Day 2 prompt: Write a poem that directly addresses someone, and that includes a made-up word, an odd/unusual simile, a statement of “fact,” and something that seems out of place in time. Inspired by a piece of writing by David Elikwu.

Hey, Mister Saxomaphone,

hoot me a honk, and so right the wrong;

All the broken melodies,

reinvented

will create my song.



As perfect as a dirty corner

wherein lies the history of this room,

swept away by all your basses;

Mister Saxomaphone meet Thunderbroom!

A dizzy release of tension

but miles made me a kind of blue,

with a loosened grip of the sticks

the dischord births the cool.


A novelty of noise, your random riffs

brought my jazz to life, formed this punk

Mister Saxomaphone, I made my own song

from the power of your funk.