Tag: Tanka Tuesday

Cold Dawn – 27th February 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 20 Comments

you were my shoulder
i lay my head upon you
where i learned to sleep

daily arrivals
would calm the tremors of my
shaken psychosis

you always wanted
more of me, I would prostrate
blind, oblivious

you were in control
but i woke to the cold dawn
sick of your deceit

the truths that you told
between the lies were only
my own self-abuse

Shared with Tanka Tuesday #53 – rensaku. This poem follows on neatly from yesterday’s, the effects of alcohol still on my mind and foregoing the request of seasonal poetry in the prompt, perhaps. This set of senryu tells an autobiographical story and maybe, just maybe, highlights an emotional spring, an awakening.
The seed of the idea for this poem came from reading Matthew Maitland’s ‘You Want Mythology?’

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Cultivating Indifference Where Others Grow Passion

There are virtues and there are vices
All the indifferents lie in between
Cake is cake, no matter how it slices
Always coverting more is obscene

The Crush – 13th February 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 30 Comments

is it true that it’s a weakness?

– a tender trap that crushes;

a sweet anguish to be mad about,

– a cherished affliction;

ah! blissful misery, hopeful despair

– crushed under its own weight.

A sijo for Tanka Tuesday #48 – love and passion and also shared with Poets and Storytellers United #214

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Pleasure Can Become Punishment

Guard against getting carried away
On the waves of too much pleasure
Take a breath, think and say
Will this bring me further pressure?

All Sins – 6th February 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 9 Comments

~
written confessions
burned or buried in the sand –
you are my witness.
~
shame cannot survive being
spoken in this space.
~
a quiet intervention
within the circle;
a therapy for family –
can all sins be forgiven?
~

a moral compass,
bent to the will of power;
broken on purpose.

A choka/senryu shared with Tanka Tuesday #50 – cleansing

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Don’t Seek Out Strife

We can agree that peace is better than war
So the choice to struggle – what is it for?
Out of control, we’re afraid to sit still
When the reasoned choice would be to stop and chill

It Won’t Be Long – 22nd January 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 11 Comments

Shared with Tanka Tuesday following the poem “Appellate Jurisdiction,” where Marianne Moore uses a pattern of 9-syllable lines and a 4-syllable refrain.

Stories did their work for the future
The world, still deciding what to keep

Before was long


Lounging, ankles crossed, watching the clouds
Translating sunlight into stillness

The days are long


Adrenaline of whiskey shortcuts
Dawn is held off by sheer momentum

The nights are long


The future shrinks, the past multiplies
The scenes replayed all out of order

Life is so long


Whether it is silence or in song
Meaning will redistribute itself

After is long

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

The Day In Review

What did you think and what did you do
Each day, put it all up for review
Things that were good, things that were bad
All that made you happy, all that made you sad

Sacred Profanity – 15th January 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 8 Comments

God, I’ve got a nose to pick with you.
Are you listening to my angry prayer?
A few fucks in front of the altar?
It’s not like you’ve never heard me swear.

My reverent heresy is born from
The institution blindly followed.
To commit their violence in your name
Fed on half-truths, easily swallowed.

Shared with Tanka Tuesday – oxymoron but mine is just a nine-syllable quatrain. I got my challenges mixed up.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Peace Is In Staying The Course

Riding the waves of acceptance and rejection
Tranquillity does not wander in every direction