Tag: relationships

Few Feathers – 13th March 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 19 Comments

I’ll never say that I miss you,

the bird that left few feathers for my pillow,

an ache I will never confess,
but whoever runs their fingers along my bones 

will feel your name etched on each one 

with a cornerstone of soiled sentiments.

This poem is really a collaboration, with only a little input on my part. Lines 1, 4, 5 and 6 were written by EC at the erroneous choices blog, in a short piece titled ‘lies we live under’. It stood out to me as a brilliant, poetic little paragraph that I thought I could use the idea, along with the last two words, as an alliterative full stop. EC was gracious enough to allow me to use it in full and so here it is, with my two added lines, shared for the dVerse quadrille prompt – bird.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

One Day It Will All Make Sense

It seemed like a disaster
But became a lucky break
We are a terrible forecaster
But reason makes no mistake

Small Trinkets – 23rd January 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 30 Comments

I held onto them for a while
reminding me of why
you left
I kept those small trinkets on file,
lost in a constant sigh,
bereft

Left with all that belongs to me,
to focus on caring,
and how
nothing compares to memories
of what we were sharing
’til now

Shared with W3 #195 – memento poem

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Truth About Money

Confusion reigns in search of possession
Herein lies an important lesson
The external doesn’t fix what’s inside
Let good judgment be your guide

Lothario – 28th July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

*I found this line somewhere but can’t remember who wrote it now!


If you want to kill someone
fill them with love and leave;*
– Bone is stronger than the heart

Fill up a cup with honesty
designed only to deceive
– and break their world apart

Razors in the chocolates,
A minefield full of flowers;
– Coerced to play the bit part

The Lothario, the Romeo,
contain Casanova powers
– make their torture a work of art

“Come Over” – 25th January 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I hate that I like it when you leave
me to wonder what you are doing
It’s only myself I choose to deceive,
a turmoil casserole left stewing

Between the devil and deep blue sea
I hate that I like it when you leave
Unsure to be tied down or set free
I’m trying to make us both believe

Mixed messages that we both receive
and send, hung up on to higher hopes
I hate that I like it when you leave
the bruises from your ugliest gropes

Our heads are nought but mush and despair
What is it that we hope to achieve?
Every night alone I say this prayer
I hate that I like it when you leave

Inspired by this post at Girl Online and also submitted for a refrain assignment at AllPoetry.com

The Chase – 22nd October 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Seduction – theatre in real life
The meeting of illusion and reality
Lost in a hall of mirrors
Reflections prove difficult to see

Kept busy with ritual
The chase, chocolate and flowers
The world is just a stage
Filled with clockwork amateurs

A geometric jerky quickstep
A dance without a guarantee
All those things worried about
And that never came to be

The first two lines are paraphrased from Robert Greene.

Insatiable Child – 21st August 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 7 Comments

I don’t know why
She bent to my will
Years later
It confuses me still

Why did she
Fulfil my dreams
Ignoring her own
As I played my schemes

I was the child
Though she was younger
I was insatiable
She fed my hunger

Submitted to dVerse Quadrille #206 – bend

Today I’m feeling:

Pretty good after sleeping well. A little bit of exercise again, where my body felt good immediately afterwards, though it was also telling me that it would be great to go back to sleep again. That will have to wait, though.

Health:

Physical: 7
Mental: 7

Today I’m grateful for:

Kru Karn encouraging her grade 8 students to commit to the assignment that I set and do so in their free time. 

Most of them complied, and it was actually a fun, though slightly chaotic, afternoon.

The best thing about today was:

Starting some little Instagram videos of a little stupid idea I had. I got three done at random times today and have sent them to Jet to see if she can fancy them up a little before posting them online.

Also, the grade 8 classes that I talk about elsewhere here were fun too.

Something I learned today?

Two of my grade 8 students came to me during my afternoon class, claiming that they couldn’t do my assignment, of a three-minute conversation with another (unfamiliar) student, because they were introverted and too shy. Both their English is reasonable too. 

I encouraged them to just try and do it and that afterwards, they would feel much better. Sure enough, they seemed quite pleased with themselves when they had finished.

There were others too, putting up some opposition to this task and I explained to everyone that now is a time to put their learning to use, instead of just filling in gap-fill forms or doing grammar quizzes.

It’s making me rethink what I want to do with these classes next.  I learned a lot from it.

I took this picture from a video that I was trying to do with this student, Best.  I don’t teach her, but she must know me through her friends, as she always wants to talk with me when she sees me. Today though, she couldn’t stop laughing when trying to make the video.

Waging Peace – 1st August 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Breath, the gift of all of your Gods
No windswept sketches deny
Deep down below, against all odds
Wars raging from sky to sky

Silhouette kisses, all agree
Will these wonders never cease?
Untangled sense for all to see
Wage peace, let the tribe increase

Submitted to The Sunday Whirl Wordle #665. ‘Let the tribe increase’, once again taken from The Mob’s album of the same name.
23rd Sep 2024 – Submitted to Living Poetry Prompt: Silhouette

Today I’m feeling:

OK, not up or down, not thrilled or dejected.

Last night I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with my brain running.  This has happened for two nights in a row but last night it was much more difficult to get back to sleep.

A few days ago, I decided to cut the Tramadol tablet in half to try and cut down and maybe give myself a break from taking it for a while to see how I feel.  And last night I thought that this was perhaps what had caused me to wake up because this waking up with my mind running hasn’t happened since I started taking Tramadol.

I will see how it is tonight and go from there.  I’ve been incredibly calm and content since taking Tramadol but still curious if I can be that way without it.

Today I’m grateful for:

Nong Boom, my grade 12 student.  We were studying the IELTS Speaking exam about technology and a main question was about how your life would be different without your most precious item of tech.

To demonstrate I took Boom’s phone and put it in my back pocket and asked her how she felt.  After she finished, I purposely didn’t give it back, which she accepted well.

I carried on talking with other students for about 20 minutes and she only once play-whined,’ Teacher – my phone…’ but I still held on to it.

Once I’d finished talking, I opened the camera app on her phone and walked around the classroom taking random photos.  Everyone was laughing and Boom took it all in her stride.

In the evening, I asked her if she had any good pictures from today and she sent me this one:

The best thing about today was:

The whole class mentioned above was a pleasure to teach again.  A fair few students were missing, which made it even easier to get more personal interactions.

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

The downside of those missing students is that they missed the prep for work required for next week.  Well, nothing I can do about that.

Also, in my grade 8 class, I have them reading in groups of 4 and Ten has not been prepared to do anything to help himself, so I put pressure on his group that if I grade the group it will be to the lowest scorer amongst them.  

I know this will have a negative effect in that it will make the group members think even less of Ten than they already do but I want to demonstrate to them that this is what happens in real life. The weakest person lets down the whole team.

Something I learned today?

I learned a whole lot about semi-fake mobile game ads, why they are made and how they are implemented.  It was a head-shaking experience.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I talked a little with grade 8 student Film today, as he has cut himself off from Ten and No, as they are not really fulfilling his expectations of friendship. I’m just conscious that last year he came to me to discuss his mental health and I don’t want him to be so isolated and cut himself off from everyone. It’s a weird group of kids in that class for sure. I like them all, except for Ten.

Butterflies – 22nd July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 17 Comments

Was it a fantasy? A fair fumble in the past
– Mystical ticks as the clock rewinds
That magical ache in the chest again, at last
– A blood-pumping petition reminds

Gave up reality for frolics in the dark
– Gardenias by day, jasmine by night
Naked in starlight, reignited the spark
– Gladdens the mind from a dark requite

Submitted to No Theme Thursday – the picture above, Moonwashed Musings – mystical and Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – magic
10th Oct 2024 – Shared with What’s Going On – magical

Today I’m feeling:

A little bit weary before coffee but fairly upbeat after.  Will try to get out to my room before watching any TV today, make sure I do things that are pleasurable, though take some effort, rather than just sitting watching the box all day.  Whilst content may be interesting, too much at one time gets boring.

Today I’m grateful for:

The staff at the hospital who gave me advice on when to come back to get my medicine.

The best thing about today was:

Playing guitar again for a couple of hours was fun and though my skill seems to have plateaued, I’m starting to understand it a little more deeply.

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

I went up to the hospital, though only after talking with Hayden about health, which reminded me to see if the psych was there.  Actually, I knew that he was only usually there on Monday mornings, so I wanted to find out if he would be there next Monday, but as today and next Monday are holidays, the department he is in is not open.  It was a vague hope that they would be.

However, a nice member of staff, with reasonable English, told me that he would be there from 1pm tomorrow, so I figured I’d take tomorrow morning off and wait at home until then and go to my afternoon class at 2.30.  I don’t want to have to go back and forth twice tomorrow as I’m short of cash and will need to refill the tank at some stage.

Something I learned today?

Biden steps down as the 2024 US presidential candidate, and civil war there feels like more and more of a possibility.

On a similar note: Jellyfish are not fish; they have no brain, heart, or bones.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I followed up with Baipad about her cat and also with Freya about herself.

I took this picture because finally, our ground is waterlogged again.

Ruins – 19th July 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Pearls left at the altar
No more reveries for your name
Perfection starts to falter
Then vanish with a lover’s claim

Built to be broken
The air inside, a secret mist
Embraced by all the ghosts
The tragic altruist

Submitted to Wordle #663

Today I’m feeling:

Good, though I skipped exercise this morning as my alarm shocked me awake and my eyes were so heavy.  I thought I’d get straight back to a deep sleep but didn’t as my brain slowly engaged.  I did enjoy the rest though and I probably needed it.

I wasn’t looking forward to my first class, my lazy grade 11s on the relatively boring topic of presentations.  I try to get them going as much as I can but I think that they have other things to think about.  However, it did go well and I pulled back a little to talk with each group about their presentations and it was ok.

The second class, the grade 11 HAP and J-Biz kids, I prepped when they arrived that we would finish early and could complete the final task and bring to class next week.  They were happy with this as they had mentioned that they were overloaded with work for another class.

During that class I talked with Jee about problems between the J-Biz and HAP students in both grade 11 and 10.  She told me that the grade 11s were mostly fine but that in grade 10 they are not connecting well at all.

But she did talk to me about Freya causing all sorts of problems between everyone in the grade 11 class.  I know that there had been some issues before but I thought that it had kind of settled down now.  It seems not.

At the end of my class there was definitely some frank discussion going on between a few students and Freya.  I discussed it with both sides separately a little later but with the language barrier it was a little difficult to get to the bottom of.

It seems like Freya might have a problem with running her mouth at times and not thinking about what she is saying.  Maybe a gossip, playing both sides depending on who she is talking to. I’m guessing that she has low social skills and perhaps her background has played a part in this, though I know nothing about that.  It’s just that I feel that she might be more old school Thai than some of the other kids who are more with the times and less provincial.

Also, she may be getting a skewed understanding of how relationships work by live streaming in class sometimes and getting positive feedback on her looks from ‘fans’.

This is all conjecture on my part and I feel sorry for her because she admits to knowing that she has done wrong and bad things in the past but feels like she is being given a further chance.

I told her to talk with Kru Pooky, who I’m not sure is the best person to go to for advice, though she is a little like Freya too.  She seems to struggle with friends in the school and is always posting pictures of herself alone at cafes on Instagram, which feels a bit odd to me as she is (I’m guessing) approaching middle age, though not unattractive.  I can see Freya easily becoming like her in the future.  So, I’m not sure if that makes her a good or bad person to be talking with!

I also told Freya to talk with me later.  I’ve messaged her this evening but not heard back.  As she struggles with depression and being away from family I just hope she doesn’t do anything rash.

Thankfully my last class of grade 8s was a breeze after all that drama as they struggled with reading in front of class but they tried very hard and did very well.  A quick quiz afterwards and we were all able to get away a little earlier.

Today I’m grateful for:

The friendly lady at the cookie shop in Ban Den.  She was nice as Amy and I video called to figure out what to buy for her to take to Udon Thani.

The best thing about today was:

Feeling good listening to my grade 8s reading and having seen them improve over the week.  A few of them still don’t understand what they’re saying but at least they are getting over their fear of talking.  

It’s a good feeling to watch them evolving their skills over time.

Review your acts, Good and bad.

I tried supporting Freya as mentioned above.

It was (grade 9) Earn’s birthday today and I delivered her a piece of chocolate cake from Le Paradis, for which she was appreciative, though I asked her to listen to Kru David in her class (for a change!)

I also let Spain, Praew and her friend through into the cafe so that they could sit in the aircon as the gate hadn’t been unlocked yet.