Tag: poetry

What’s Missing? – 7th September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

You’re only seeing the red pill
Or maybe just the green
Oblivious to the fact
The green pill left unseen

When the choice is one or two
Always search for three
Sometimes you’ll find four or five
If you look long enough to see

16th Nov 2024 – Shared with the Word of the Day Challenge – missing

Now is no time to think of what you do not have.

Ernest Hemingway

Today I’m grateful for:
The chef in the kitchen in the shop next door to Utopia, who remembered that I wanted food without meat and made delicious fried rice with chilli that had me sweating so hard I needed a shower when I got home.
The best thing about today was:
Having fun with all the kids who were cooking as part of their scout week. They were very playful and happy.

I took this picture because this unfinished building always fascinates me. I guess it was going to be a hotel. It is located next to the river and is an easy drive into town. I fanaticise about turning it into a punk house for world travellers and having shows there.

The Honey Pot – 6th September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Good fortune can be a great deceiver
Life’s lottery may bring returns of gold
But the devil is in the details
Of the glittering lives being sold
Ants will gather at the honey pot
Desperate hands grabbing for a share
Fighting for a way to get out
Before realising it’s all still there

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw

Today I’m grateful for:
My little motorbike surviving the stupid journies I take it on. I rewarded it with a quick shower and wipe down ready to go again another time. Maybe I’ll wait until it’s a little drier though.
The best thing about today was:
Realising that I needed to get outside and see the sun, breath the air and dive deep into the jungle. My mood had totally altered by the time I returned home scratched up, aching muscles and covered in mud.

I took this picture because it will remind me of my bike ride today that got me out of my funk. I love the angles and depths though my phone can’t capture the magnificence as the human eye. I particularly like the clouds in just half the sky here.

The Week That Was – 25th November 1979

Happy Times – 5th September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

I’m grateful you’ve been spared
In some way that was my doing
If you’d have stayed here
You’d soon discover troubles brewing

Wisdom came to me far too late
I know it was wrong to make you suffer
There’s no way to go back now
I am one and you are another

I’ll watch you from a distance
Happy you are happy and content
I’ll hang on to the memories
Of the happy times we spent

All I’m saying is that the difference between humans and animals is that animals would never allow the dumbest of the herd to lead them.

The Far Side

Today I’m grateful for:
Being able to leave school early and have an afternoon snooze after treating myself to some lunch.
The best thing about today was:
The bearable temperature, thankfully lowered after a heavy rain whilst I was drinking my morning coffee at House.

I took this picture because I found these mangy pups hanging out on the street corner this morning. They were friendly enough though.

The Week That Was – 18th November 1979

All About The Underdog – 4th September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes bad weather seems better
Maybe you’ve got no coin in the game
A baby born without hope to survive
Maybe rooting for us just the same
Take a shot at the moving target
And it becomes the best you’ve ever done
Everyone has forgotten your name
But to us, you’re the one that won

Run in the opposite direction of any expert or guru proclaiming to possess a secret formula for success of power.

Robert Greene, the Daily Laws

Today I’m grateful for:
A weekend of being able to watch the AFL. Four amazing first-round finals. All of them were fantastic thrilling games and they reminded me of weekends of drinking and hangovers in Australia. Winters of football and summers of cricket.
The best thing about today was:
A big drink of cold water at about 8pm. Today has not been very eventful but that water sure made an impression. No doubt I will be reminded of it at about 3am too!

I took this picture because it represents hope and growth. Many of our pumpkin flowers don’t turn to fruit or fall off quickly before having chance to take. I don’t know how far this one will go but it’s looking good right now.

Pot Of Gold – 3rd September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

We’re acting our age, growing up
Got our emotions under control
The highs and lows have come and gone
And we’re finally feeling whole
We’re no longer chasing rainbows
We know what’s at their end
The pot of gold is here and now
With a lifetime left to spend

Beware of those who seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone.

Charles Bukowski

Today I’m grateful for:
Amy’s parents for delivering me food and fruit this morning. I was sleeping and I found it with surprise at our door.
The best thing about today was:
Watching Sydney play a fantastic game of football that was tense and exciting.

I took this picture because it caught my eye though I didn’t look closely at it. Looking at it now I guess it’s a painting based on the position of stars. I’m not even sure where I took this or if it’s a screenshot.

Body At War – 2nd September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

My body’s at war with my brain
One or the other is broken again
My aching joints keep me awake
I wonder how much more I can take
As I sink into deeper depression
My muscles dissolve in regression
Ever-declining circles of pain
My body’s at war with my brain

You’ve got to hand it to capitalism, convincing everyone that ‘freedom’ meant obeying your boss or starving was a pretty incredible achievement.

Existential Comics

Today I’m grateful for:
The gardeners for coming and taking care of things whilst I was at work. It’s nice to come home and everything looking respectable. They even collected all the passion fruit up from the ground for me.
The best thing about today was:
Talking with my students – as is often the case. Each time I communicate with them I hope it improves their confidence even just a little. As more students talk to me, others find the courage too.

Planting Seeds – 1st September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

As my mind opened so did the world in front of me
Even as a child I sensed things were not as should be
So it is now I look up to the biggest sky I ever saw
Where love and cooperation must trump violence and war

“the biggest sky I ever saw” is taken from a Robert Plant interview used in the Led Zeppelin biography by Mick Wall, hence the title.

The brain and the tongue are so far apart.

Prunesquallor from Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

Today I’m grateful for:
Champ asking me if I’d like to teach in the new building where the rooms will have aircon! That could be nice. I’m sure there will be teething troubles in there and maybe Champ has some other motive for me being there but all the same, it is nice to be thought of.
The best thing about today was:
Momo coming and telling me that she wished I was still teaching her. When I asked why she said that my classes were more fun. I think she and Porpieng feel that they are not being challenged enough now. I felt good to hear her say this, making me remember the impact, no matter how small, I’m having on her life.

I took this picture because the clouds rolling up the mountain like this really caught my attention. I was struggling to find anything to take a picture of on this walk as the sky was still quite dull and grey but then seeing the sun hitting the mountaintops and this cloud really stuck out. I stood and savoured it even if only for a second or two.

Laugh Or Cry – 31st August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
I don’t know, who, when, what or why
Spent my days in endless frustration
A victim of a worthless education

Now I’m at school on the other side
All the things I learned being applied
And frustrated kids look up with empty eyes
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry

The people who get on in theis world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.

George Bernard Shaw

Today I’m grateful for:
Being able to share my abundant fruits with other people. The papaya is delicious but I can’t eat six of them!
The best thing about today was:
A quick ride along back roads and tracks to Bruno’s reminded me of times riding my motorbike in Dorset as a teenager. The green overhanging fauna down dirty muddy tracks and lanes. The smell of fresh oxygen mixed with distant smoky garden fires. I was transported, if only for a moment.

I took this picture because I found these two ‘good boys’ far from their home on my morning walk and they followed me all the way back.

Garden Haiku – 30th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Passionfruit flowers
Precede overabundance
Jam jars are ready

Ripened or not so
Papayas can be eaten
Until sick of it

The rambutans red
Are all infested with ants
Inedible now

Avocado trees
Why do you never give fruit?
I want to smash you

My chillies just came
It was a surprise to all
Conditions perfect

26th Jun 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Today I’m grateful for:
The cookie I ate at House with my lunchtime coffee. It wasn’t particularly tasty or big but somehow it staved off any afternoon hunger so I ended up only needing yoghurt for dinner.
The best thing about today was:
Being able to talk to different students on a more personal level about more serious topics such as behaviour and respect. Even with the difficulties we have in communicating I feel as if I have their confidence in some ways.

I took this picture because I’d never seen the light on the lower mountains like this before. The sun was only just over the horizon to the east.

The Week That Was – 11th November 1979

Marginalia – 29th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

A Russian writer in a Dublin bar
Took a metaphor way too far
The idiot brother spent the day
Conjuring up their words at play
Newspeak made them more afraid
And on the farm, a price was paid
Conch holders soon made no sound
As Alexandria’s library burned to the ground
A plague, a joke, the man outside
Tall tales of prejudice and pride
Repeated and replaced with robots, I
Struggle with two suns in the sky

Isn’t it conceivable a person wants to be a decent human being because that way he feels better.

Isaac Asimov
I took this picture because these two kept me company for a little while this morning on my walk. They looked like they were trying to kill each other but all the while wagging their tails and jumping up to run off again.

The Week That Was – 11th November 1979