Tag: poetry

Erasing Metaphor – 22nd December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

plain and simple
hey symbolic metaphors
late night sleep

a bowl of your pretty little mind
a pair of red leaves fall
wine walking

this day is a week
you want good
not better

your cup now is September
how many I love have flown my kitchen
arranging a perfect child

I like to eat then, forgetting the ocean
a restlessness or
inhabiting quiet

some never talk again
and now to cut up a life
could I have chosen myself

An erasure poem adapted from this wonderful writing at tiny hearts (see below)

A Love Letter From Minas Gerais – 21st December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Maturing in the still and humid air
On a steep Brazilian hillside
I deepen red as if blushing
Ready to be plucked and tested

Still sour before the procession
Dried on a dusty rack
Soon signed, sealed and delivered
My final journey nears conclusion

I’m roasted, stirred and blended
Slightly sweet and bitter
Cascading jets of steamy water
Extract my last juices

Remember me this fine morning
As you go about your day
It was my pleasure to serve you
To give you my get up and go

Written for an AllPoetry assignment about personification and returning to a favourite topic of mine!

My Backyard – 20th December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Flowers bloom between my toes
Tamed all within this fence
The tree of life grows
Slaked by others’ expense

Beyond the hills and valleys
Where the earth is dry and hard
Adding to the deadly tallies
But never in my backyard

I’ll fight you off my flowers
Kill to keep my order
Raise up sentry towers
To keep you from my border

No, never in my backyard
Eyes shut tight to beyond
My garden must not be marred
No filth brought to my pond

Christmas In Gaza – 18th December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 10 Comments
Article at sbs.com.au

Love and peace to all men
Your silent night, broken again
Tidings of comfort and joy
Burst wide open as bombs deploy

A Christmas, warm and bright
Lit by a white phosphorus light
Celebrating the birth of hope
Where none is found under microscope

The platitudes of seasonal cheer
Have lost all their meaning here
Peace unto you, my brother
“All I want for Christmas is my mother”

Shared with Poets and Storytellers United – holiday anxieties

Lady Of Situations – 17th December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 3 Comments

The knights felt themselves so gallant
One by one they knocked at her door
As if their poorly tested talent
Were enough to interest and explore

Their eyes focused purely on her dresses
She saw through their prods of deceit
Her castle would not receive their messes
Until their charms were removed of conceit

Their suits of armour soon became rusted
As they waited in impatient rains
Self-aware they weren’t to be trusted
And soon tired of playing their own games

What gift for the lady of situations?
The one who wants none of your gold
Deaf to their empty wild explanations
She’s chosen her own heart to hold

First Snowy Morning – 15th December 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 19 Comments

Outside the window, I giggle in delight
The first feel of snow after a silent night
This day of love has already seen me grow
Because this feeling, I thought I’d never know

I found myself once finding my tribe
Along with a love I could only describe
Now felt without any suffocating
All this time patiently waiting

The love was always right under my nose
Because I could cry at heart-wrenching prose
Intoxicated walking along the city street
Even enthralled by the glass and concrete

I will sip this love through a golden straw
And take it home to the Eastern shore
Where the soft dusty snow ignites
A love for this garden of delights

Inspired by this post at Spinning Visions
8th Jan 2026 – Shared with Esther Chilton’s writing prompt #98 – snow
21st Jan 2026 – Shared with dVerse Poetics – snow