Tag: time

The Wait – 17th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Motives change at the back of the queue
The fire increases at those pushing through
I look at the river, it makes no complaint
The body’s poisoned with poor restraint

After awakening, that’s where time goes
Screams subside, the mind now knows
Mutant thoughts will be misunderstood
It’s another birth, another childhood

Inspired by a Daily Stoic email about waiting and the story of James Stockdale. The Killing Joke song The Wait popped into my head, so I looked up the lyrics (below) and as you can see, I appropriated half of each line to make a new write.

The Wait – Killing Joke

Motives changing, day to day
The fire increases, mass decay
I look at the river, white foam floats down
The body’s poisoned, got to sit tight

After awakening, the silence grows
Screams subside, distortion shows
Mutant thoughts of bad-mouthed news
It’s just another birth of distorted views

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Dealing With Haters

When another hates you
What business is it of yours?
If their word deflates you
It’s a losing game to even scores

Telling Time – 11th September 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Time reveals fragility

The status quo is a jester
A one-hit wonder
Soon lies under
The corpses of the investor

Entropy speeds up

Clinging to the last quarter
Tides recede
As they need
To find a new supporter

Inspired by a David Elikwu article at the Knowledge

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

What Would Less Look Like?

Could you carry on
If everything you had was gone?
When you live beyond your means
You live on borrowed dreams

The Marketplace – 16th July 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment 
It feels like shouting into the wind,
     your naked knowledge on display,

passed over with not even a comment.

You give your all, but none return.

     There are fires in every other corner

to hook the dopamined eye.

~ Those hours spent searching for the word -
     are they better spent in other ways? ~


In search of bright exchanges,

     the chance to interact with a fan;

to philosophise together and fix the world.

Maybe you’ll be famous after you're dead;
     everyone will know your name -
but what is the use of that?

Written for an AllPoetry contest using the Stanzuka form.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Progress Of The Soul

To what service is my soul committed?
Your purpose, your mission, your why?
Is this just an act, where the truth is omitted?
Duty is always calling as life passes on by

I Knew It – 18th May 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 5 Comments

I didn’t know I knew it then,
unempowered and uninvited,
the teenager at the table,
full of an outrage ignited.

Then all the thinking came
to put an end to all my singing,
dousing the flames
of all the energy I was bringing.

But I looked out and saw the world
and knew what I’d always known;
Time had folded back around
to show me how I’d grown.

Yet another poem inspired by a post at Spinning Visions.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything

The future, thought of as fun
As too, ruminations on the past
Pay attention, before now is done
And everything unfinished and half-arsed

Time Enabled – 1st January 2026

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Too little time to do all the things we need
or needing to do too many things in that time?
Forming focus has found a way to succeed;
at the least enabling a chance to shine.

January 2026 Punk Poetry Chapbook now available here.

The January 2026 Punk Poetry Chapbook features poems previously published here in January 2025

A couple of years ago, when I immersed myself in Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic, a thought crossed my mind to try and write a poem based on each day’s entry. I also thought that this book would be great as a phone app but in the absence of that arriving, AI has advanced enough now for me to be able to create the app myself. Whilst not perfect, it does present each day’s entry as a Reminder on my phone, which is great.

Whilst messing around with creating this, today I decided to get back to this idea of writing a poem for every day too and should be able to add an extra poem here each day for the rest of the year.

What a crazy (stupid!) idea.

Today’s Daily Stoic poem:

Control and Choice

The past is firmly in the box, the future still outside
Every day is a choice about the ideas you consume.
Is it wise to be making bargains with the tide?
Or sweeping back the ocean with a broom?

The Great Unwinding – 17th May 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 2 Comments

Shared with No Theme Thursday picture prompt and somewhat inspired after reading Divine Providence by Judy Dykstra Brown. After humanity ceases, the world will still be here.

Time didn’t stop, just the clocks;

the winders wandered off.

Mad monks meditated

buried under a tomb of rocks.

The fat ladies have sung after supper,

“This is the end,
my friend”,

winding down the winder-upper.

That’s about the yin and yang

of it, forever keeps on coming;

trees still fall in the forest,

but all the poets are dead.

A Bucketful Of Sand – 24th April 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 14 Comments


When you left, I promised myself
to build us a mountain
for our future;

each day, a bucketful of sand;
building this monument
towards the sky.

When you return, in my dreaming,
your journeys at an end;
together then;

each day, the winds of time will take
a bucketful of sand,
until it’s gone

Shared with Momoetry April Poet Month challenge – ekphrastic and WDYS #285 picture prompt and the idea came after reading Time Passes here

Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #19 and my quick thoughts:

Trepaneringsritualen – Getting Neubauten and Keuhkot vibes from this. As others mention at bandcamp – riveting, terrifying, menacing! A good Thursday morning downer.

Haunted Horses – If this was the first time I heard this style or genre then I would love this. Very good.

Gay Beast – This is my kinda thing and already familiar to me. I’m always looking for more music along these lines.

Lunar Mistake – I like this, it could grow on me. The vocals put me off on the first song but are nice on others. Kinda soft-prog. Gonna listen some more.

Atrium Carceri – I don’t have time for this. I’m not a young man anymore. I get all the ambient noise I want at 8 pm in my jungle village.

Unlovable II – 1st February 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

It felt like love, at least it seemed that way to me
Circumstances made it lighter than it should be
Now we have both learned to carry it differently

Our love was brittle, so as I saw new chances
We both became victims of those circumstances
A quiet candle burns, a little flame still dances

A true story though truth changes over time. Unlovable can be found here.
Inspired by this post on Instagram by muskurahateinn.