Sean Patrick

scrolling through pictures
of an old friend, and sobbing
uncontrollably

#haiku

Every once in a while (pretty often, actually) you post something like this that makes me wonder if you're some sort of wizard. Really impressive.

CITY SCAFFOLD: A sonnet of no fixed rhyme scheme, composed in iambic trimeter. Each line has exactly 14 letters. The poem's Ts are arranged such that they form a symmetrical, X-shaped scaffold.

silphian

adj.

1. Overconsumed due to high demand.
2. Encouraging excessive consumption.
3. Encouraging sexual behavior; aphrodisiac.
4. Related to the extinct silphium plant.

#neologism

feeding a stray cat
its wariness palpable
no touch! only feed

#haiku

a flame in darkness,
this place where travelers wait
before moving on
forgetting the road behind
and dreading the road ahead

#tanka

tracing a helix
the Earth, rotating through space
imperceptibly

#haiku

rabbits scattering
as an aquiline shadow
falls on yellowed grass

#haiku

the moon rose over
the two of us - the sun set,
but the moon returns -
and in its mocking blue light
I see you far more clearly

#tanka

rough water churning
beneath a rickety boat
wind - and waves - and wind

#haiku

I agree! I wrote a poem to this effect about a year and half ago. seanpatrick.phd/2024/03/28/f...

there! taking cover
beneath the rhododendron
from the sudden rain

#haiku

I started a document today to store every made up word I come up with because it "feels like it should be a word". I've got about a half dozen already. Here's 2:

vermine
adj.
1. Related to or resembling worms (from Latin vermis)

appell
v.t.
1. To name or label (from Latin appellare)

#neologism

amarilline
adj.
1. Shining (from Greek ἀμαρύσσω)
2. Yellow in color (from Spanish amarillo)
3. Related to citrus, especially lemons (from Latin amarus)
n.
1. Yellow quartz; citrine

#neologism #MadeUpWords

the rose's beauty
lies not in petals, but thorns;
bellicose blossom

#haiku

the sun, venomous
preparing its blazing sting
scorching scorpion

#haiku

obsolete …I leave details to them…

"The horse who, I’m told, once had quite a long run,
and the old washer-woman, whose profits were clean,
both had jobs that were once irreplaceably done –
and were both made redundant by clever machines..."

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/29/o...

#poem #poetry

embarrassing myself

legacy …let an ounce of martyr’s ashes outweigh a pound of living flesh…

"When histories are written by successors,
leave them a wide and voiceless lacuna
in places that you would have been,
let ink be spilled in gallons
by the ones who follow, filling in
the things you might have said."

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/28/l...

#poem #poetry

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

~Maya Angelou

drizzly morning
obscured behind clouds, the sun
is a memory

霧雨が降る
不明瞭です
太陽思い出

kirisame ga furu
fumeiryou desu
taiyou omoide

drizzle falling
it's obscured...
the sun's memory

#haiku

"What time is it?"

"Oh, about pimp-dick, pimp-bumfit."

the grapes of wrath grow thicc for the vintage

sonnet for a fallen angel …how dark, to be born brighter than the sun!…

"How desperately you must think of ways
to tempt we humans to exceed our means
and use that freedom that you lack! Your gaze
must fall contemptuously upon such scenes.
How dark, to be born brighter than the sun!"

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/27/s...

#poem #poetry #sonnet

sonnet for a curse …we never find an exit into day…

"O, give me some new penetrating ray!
Some arrow made of light to pierce the dark!
Give me some magic word that I can say,
to tap the tree of life through its rough bark!"

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/26/s...

#poem #poetry #sonnet

sonnet for a vintage …death came for me today, and merely waved…

"Death came for me today, and merely waved;
she raised a toast as I perceived her gaze,
and by the providence of fate was saved:
to live, to stumble onward through my days..."

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/24/s...

#poem #poetry #sonnet

sonnet for a shallow pool …how paradoxical, that we should thirst for love in pools we have ourselves poured shallow!…

"For all the fuss that humans make of love,
they seem more interested in simple mating;
and unenthused, when push comes to its shove,
to look beyond the appetites they’re sating..."

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/23/s...

#poem #poetry #sonnet

to say i miss you
doesn't capture its meaning
I am missing you
the way the moon is missing
from the surface of the Earth

I am missing you
and I do not think I'll find
a piece to replace
the part of me that was you —
I don't know if I want to

#tanka

"Farewell, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing –
you ruled the world, you conquered everything."

seanpatrick.phd/2025/07/22/s...

#poem #poetry #sonnet #Ozzy

Goodnight, sweet prince (of darkness), and flights of angels (/demons) sing thee to thy rest.