Tag: GloPoWriMo

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.