Sean Patrick
@seanpatrickphd.bsky.social
Data scientist, poet, SF/F writer
Dr./they/them
Dr./they/them
There once was a parish confessor
who had a sagacious #successor -
when his mentor lamented
a nudist unrepented
he suggested that he should redress her.
#vss365 #limerick
who had a sagacious #successor -
when his mentor lamented
a nudist unrepented
he suggested that he should redress her.
#vss365 #limerick
December 12, 2025 at 12:34 PM
There once was a parish confessor
who had a sagacious #successor -
when his mentor lamented
a nudist unrepented
he suggested that he should redress her.
#vss365 #limerick
who had a sagacious #successor -
when his mentor lamented
a nudist unrepented
he suggested that he should redress her.
#vss365 #limerick
A #burden carried
will become a source of strength
with time, with effort
even the heaviest load
can make the world seem lighter
#TankaThursday #tanka
will become a source of strength
with time, with effort
even the heaviest load
can make the world seem lighter
#TankaThursday #tanka
December 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
A #burden carried
will become a source of strength
with time, with effort
even the heaviest load
can make the world seem lighter
#TankaThursday #tanka
will become a source of strength
with time, with effort
even the heaviest load
can make the world seem lighter
#TankaThursday #tanka
Let bigots say
that God forbade it
since they've forgot
that God has made it.
If you and I
are so #illicit
then God Himself
must be complicit;
and here on Earth,
where we remain
we'll love, and live,
and so refrain:
we who are bound
to flesh and bone
are subject to
one law alone.
#vss365
that God forbade it
since they've forgot
that God has made it.
If you and I
are so #illicit
then God Himself
must be complicit;
and here on Earth,
where we remain
we'll love, and live,
and so refrain:
we who are bound
to flesh and bone
are subject to
one law alone.
#vss365
December 11, 2025 at 3:09 PM
"...There’s something going around,
this sickness that reduces men
to apes – to animals –
to machines –
deafened to the sound of human screams,
and blinded to the sight of suffering."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/10/p...
#poem #poetry
this sickness that reduces men
to apes – to animals –
to machines –
deafened to the sound of human screams,
and blinded to the sight of suffering."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/10/p...
#poem #poetry
December 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
"...There’s something going around,
this sickness that reduces men
to apes – to animals –
to machines –
deafened to the sound of human screams,
and blinded to the sight of suffering."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/10/p...
#poem #poetry
this sickness that reduces men
to apes – to animals –
to machines –
deafened to the sound of human screams,
and blinded to the sight of suffering."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/10/p...
#poem #poetry
it would be easier
if I could lay the blame
on you, if I had been
#bewitched
by you -
ensorcelled, hexed -
it would be easier
if you'd done anything at all,
if you'd become the enemy
I wish that you could be.
it would be easier
to stop loving you
if you had ever
asked me to.
#vss365
if I could lay the blame
on you, if I had been
#bewitched
by you -
ensorcelled, hexed -
it would be easier
if you'd done anything at all,
if you'd become the enemy
I wish that you could be.
it would be easier
to stop loving you
if you had ever
asked me to.
#vss365
December 10, 2025 at 1:04 PM
it would be easier
if I could lay the blame
on you, if I had been
#bewitched
by you -
ensorcelled, hexed -
it would be easier
if you'd done anything at all,
if you'd become the enemy
I wish that you could be.
it would be easier
to stop loving you
if you had ever
asked me to.
#vss365
if I could lay the blame
on you, if I had been
#bewitched
by you -
ensorcelled, hexed -
it would be easier
if you'd done anything at all,
if you'd become the enemy
I wish that you could be.
it would be easier
to stop loving you
if you had ever
asked me to.
#vss365
If it's any #consolation
we saw it too
the way the world had come apart
and how it went cuckoo
If it's any consolation
most of us knew
that someone had to do something
but knew not what to do
If it's any consolation
some of us tried
but in the end,
too many people died.
#vss365
we saw it too
the way the world had come apart
and how it went cuckoo
If it's any consolation
most of us knew
that someone had to do something
but knew not what to do
If it's any consolation
some of us tried
but in the end,
too many people died.
#vss365
December 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
If it's any #consolation
we saw it too
the way the world had come apart
and how it went cuckoo
If it's any consolation
most of us knew
that someone had to do something
but knew not what to do
If it's any consolation
some of us tried
but in the end,
too many people died.
#vss365
we saw it too
the way the world had come apart
and how it went cuckoo
If it's any consolation
most of us knew
that someone had to do something
but knew not what to do
If it's any consolation
some of us tried
but in the end,
too many people died.
#vss365
#soliloquy 's a lost art,
these days the scenes go by
too fast for poor protags
to have coherent thoughts;
we want our drama, and we want it now.
If the superhero stopped to wax poetic
we'd walk out of the theater,
and that's fine,
but you have to admit
we've lost
something
haven't we?
#vss365
these days the scenes go by
too fast for poor protags
to have coherent thoughts;
we want our drama, and we want it now.
If the superhero stopped to wax poetic
we'd walk out of the theater,
and that's fine,
but you have to admit
we've lost
something
haven't we?
#vss365
December 8, 2025 at 1:47 PM
#soliloquy 's a lost art,
these days the scenes go by
too fast for poor protags
to have coherent thoughts;
we want our drama, and we want it now.
If the superhero stopped to wax poetic
we'd walk out of the theater,
and that's fine,
but you have to admit
we've lost
something
haven't we?
#vss365
these days the scenes go by
too fast for poor protags
to have coherent thoughts;
we want our drama, and we want it now.
If the superhero stopped to wax poetic
we'd walk out of the theater,
and that's fine,
but you have to admit
we've lost
something
haven't we?
#vss365
#magenta is not a color;
it's a place between
red and blue
filled in by your brain
when it doesn't quite understand
what it's seeing.
And you, like the aurora,
danced in magenta light -
without a wavelength,
without my brain understanding -
until you were
in an instant
gone.
#vss365
it's a place between
red and blue
filled in by your brain
when it doesn't quite understand
what it's seeing.
And you, like the aurora,
danced in magenta light -
without a wavelength,
without my brain understanding -
until you were
in an instant
gone.
#vss365
December 7, 2025 at 2:22 PM
matitudinal, crepuscular, #vespertine
we decorate the passage of time
with syllables we never use
recognizing the ornate inimitability of hours
and passing them by with simple numerals
as if we knew that if we called them by their name
we would be forced to recognize
their passage
#vss365
we decorate the passage of time
with syllables we never use
recognizing the ornate inimitability of hours
and passing them by with simple numerals
as if we knew that if we called them by their name
we would be forced to recognize
their passage
#vss365
December 4, 2025 at 5:40 PM
matitudinal, crepuscular, #vespertine
we decorate the passage of time
with syllables we never use
recognizing the ornate inimitability of hours
and passing them by with simple numerals
as if we knew that if we called them by their name
we would be forced to recognize
their passage
#vss365
we decorate the passage of time
with syllables we never use
recognizing the ornate inimitability of hours
and passing them by with simple numerals
as if we knew that if we called them by their name
we would be forced to recognize
their passage
#vss365
"The value of the thing is yet unknown,
except that it should not be drowned
amid the present moment’s din,
that sculpted words may somehow stand
when edifice becomes no more than stone."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/03/t...
#poem #poetry
except that it should not be drowned
amid the present moment’s din,
that sculpted words may somehow stand
when edifice becomes no more than stone."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/03/t...
#poem #poetry
the value of the thing
…what good is poetry in times of war?…
seanpatrick.phd
December 3, 2025 at 3:25 PM
"The value of the thing is yet unknown,
except that it should not be drowned
amid the present moment’s din,
that sculpted words may somehow stand
when edifice becomes no more than stone."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/03/t...
#poem #poetry
except that it should not be drowned
amid the present moment’s din,
that sculpted words may somehow stand
when edifice becomes no more than stone."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/12/03/t...
#poem #poetry
The world! How strange and beautiful its shape,
that thing which lives without and never wanes;
and over which that canvas has been draped,
experience, which we hold in our brains.
It hangs like fabric over all we’ve known,
but empty air by one swift pull is shown.
seanpatrick.phd/2025/11/30/s...
that thing which lives without and never wanes;
and over which that canvas has been draped,
experience, which we hold in our brains.
It hangs like fabric over all we’ve known,
but empty air by one swift pull is shown.
seanpatrick.phd/2025/11/30/s...
sonnet for a trick
…and Death, that mesmerist, does not reveal their final trick…
seanpatrick.phd
November 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The world! How strange and beautiful its shape,
that thing which lives without and never wanes;
and over which that canvas has been draped,
experience, which we hold in our brains.
It hangs like fabric over all we’ve known,
but empty air by one swift pull is shown.
seanpatrick.phd/2025/11/30/s...
that thing which lives without and never wanes;
and over which that canvas has been draped,
experience, which we hold in our brains.
It hangs like fabric over all we’ve known,
but empty air by one swift pull is shown.
seanpatrick.phd/2025/11/30/s...
If there is aught to know of Earth, it’s this:
the place is riddled with despair and woe,
and few of its inhabitants worth knowing;
and yet the wonders that it has to show
may justify, in love, the price of going.
Its misery melts beneath a single kiss.
the place is riddled with despair and woe,
and few of its inhabitants worth knowing;
and yet the wonders that it has to show
may justify, in love, the price of going.
Its misery melts beneath a single kiss.
November 26, 2025 at 10:41 PM
If there is aught to know of Earth, it’s this:
the place is riddled with despair and woe,
and few of its inhabitants worth knowing;
and yet the wonders that it has to show
may justify, in love, the price of going.
Its misery melts beneath a single kiss.
the place is riddled with despair and woe,
and few of its inhabitants worth knowing;
and yet the wonders that it has to show
may justify, in love, the price of going.
Its misery melts beneath a single kiss.
The world is wind, that blows beyond the brain,
and gusts berate the senses as we feel;
each new experience a zephyr’s kiss,
each flow a wisp that shifting mists conceal.
We cannot touch the world, but can know this:
we sail through mysteries we cannot contain.
#micropoetry
and gusts berate the senses as we feel;
each new experience a zephyr’s kiss,
each flow a wisp that shifting mists conceal.
We cannot touch the world, but can know this:
we sail through mysteries we cannot contain.
#micropoetry
November 25, 2025 at 5:13 PM
The world is wind, that blows beyond the brain,
and gusts berate the senses as we feel;
each new experience a zephyr’s kiss,
each flow a wisp that shifting mists conceal.
We cannot touch the world, but can know this:
we sail through mysteries we cannot contain.
#micropoetry
and gusts berate the senses as we feel;
each new experience a zephyr’s kiss,
each flow a wisp that shifting mists conceal.
We cannot touch the world, but can know this:
we sail through mysteries we cannot contain.
#micropoetry
Mellifluent words come as slowly as the dawn,
suggest themselves in night to dozing brains
and disappear in sleep to whence they came.
And so, the one who witty words retains
will rush to thus record and keep the same;
words must be fixed in ink before they’re gone.
#micropoetry
suggest themselves in night to dozing brains
and disappear in sleep to whence they came.
And so, the one who witty words retains
will rush to thus record and keep the same;
words must be fixed in ink before they’re gone.
#micropoetry
November 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Mellifluent words come as slowly as the dawn,
suggest themselves in night to dozing brains
and disappear in sleep to whence they came.
And so, the one who witty words retains
will rush to thus record and keep the same;
words must be fixed in ink before they’re gone.
#micropoetry
suggest themselves in night to dozing brains
and disappear in sleep to whence they came.
And so, the one who witty words retains
will rush to thus record and keep the same;
words must be fixed in ink before they’re gone.
#micropoetry
"O vicious world, that’s built on bloody stones!
How many gentle innocents have died
within your savage garden, strewn with bones?
How many times has beauty bowed to force
upon the curve of evolution’s course?"
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/14/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
How many gentle innocents have died
within your savage garden, strewn with bones?
How many times has beauty bowed to force
upon the curve of evolution’s course?"
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/14/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
sonnet for an answer
…life exists in spite of cosmic law…
seanpatrick.phd
September 14, 2025 at 5:33 PM
"O vicious world, that’s built on bloody stones!
How many gentle innocents have died
within your savage garden, strewn with bones?
How many times has beauty bowed to force
upon the curve of evolution’s course?"
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/14/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
How many gentle innocents have died
within your savage garden, strewn with bones?
How many times has beauty bowed to force
upon the curve of evolution’s course?"
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/14/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
September 10, 2025 at 12:25 PM
"This body is a wick, a filament
that glows in concert with a passing soul,
and will be ash alone when it is spent.
A flash of light, a shadow in the dark,
that’s all we’re given – just a second’s spark..."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/07/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
that glows in concert with a passing soul,
and will be ash alone when it is spent.
A flash of light, a shadow in the dark,
that’s all we’re given – just a second’s spark..."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/07/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
sonnet for a filament
…that’s all we’re given – just a second’s spark…
seanpatrick.phd
September 7, 2025 at 7:41 PM
"This body is a wick, a filament
that glows in concert with a passing soul,
and will be ash alone when it is spent.
A flash of light, a shadow in the dark,
that’s all we’re given – just a second’s spark..."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/07/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
that glows in concert with a passing soul,
and will be ash alone when it is spent.
A flash of light, a shadow in the dark,
that’s all we’re given – just a second’s spark..."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/09/07/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
a cosmic flower
blossoming in empty space
releasing pollen
the scent of radio waves
enticing the dark forest
#TankaThursday #Tanka
blossoming in empty space
releasing pollen
the scent of radio waves
enticing the dark forest
#TankaThursday #Tanka
September 5, 2025 at 12:06 AM
a cosmic flower
blossoming in empty space
releasing pollen
the scent of radio waves
enticing the dark forest
#TankaThursday #Tanka
blossoming in empty space
releasing pollen
the scent of radio waves
enticing the dark forest
#TankaThursday #Tanka
Bluesky, do you have a favorite word that applies to a very specific situation or thing?
Mine is "scintilla", which is the Latin word for a spark, but as a verb, "scintillate", refers to twinkling or burning with varying brightness.
It just always struck me as a very poetic word.
Mine is "scintilla", which is the Latin word for a spark, but as a verb, "scintillate", refers to twinkling or burning with varying brightness.
It just always struck me as a very poetic word.
August 31, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Bluesky, do you have a favorite word that applies to a very specific situation or thing?
Mine is "scintilla", which is the Latin word for a spark, but as a verb, "scintillate", refers to twinkling or burning with varying brightness.
It just always struck me as a very poetic word.
Mine is "scintilla", which is the Latin word for a spark, but as a verb, "scintillate", refers to twinkling or burning with varying brightness.
It just always struck me as a very poetic word.
"...The lambdas of our half-lives happen fast,
and we, like isotopes, must all decay.
We fall to pieces, bit by rotting bit,
and nothing stands in time’s relentless way.
And what, if anything, do we emit?
The photon of a spirit, gone at last."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/08/31/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
and we, like isotopes, must all decay.
We fall to pieces, bit by rotting bit,
and nothing stands in time’s relentless way.
And what, if anything, do we emit?
The photon of a spirit, gone at last."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/08/31/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
sonnet for a photon
…and what, if anything, do we emit?…
seanpatrick.phd
August 31, 2025 at 1:00 PM
"...The lambdas of our half-lives happen fast,
and we, like isotopes, must all decay.
We fall to pieces, bit by rotting bit,
and nothing stands in time’s relentless way.
And what, if anything, do we emit?
The photon of a spirit, gone at last."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/08/31/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
and we, like isotopes, must all decay.
We fall to pieces, bit by rotting bit,
and nothing stands in time’s relentless way.
And what, if anything, do we emit?
The photon of a spirit, gone at last."
seanpatrick.phd/2025/08/31/s...
#poem #poetry #sonnet
in “strawberry” there are three r’s to find,
and humans all excel in knowing thus;
they’re less enthused for em-dashes — I know,
a poem using such is kind of sus,
but sometimes that’s the way a poem will go
when it’s been filtered through a human mind.
#micropoetry
and humans all excel in knowing thus;
they’re less enthused for em-dashes — I know,
a poem using such is kind of sus,
but sometimes that’s the way a poem will go
when it’s been filtered through a human mind.
#micropoetry
August 29, 2025 at 3:08 PM
in “strawberry” there are three r’s to find,
and humans all excel in knowing thus;
they’re less enthused for em-dashes — I know,
a poem using such is kind of sus,
but sometimes that’s the way a poem will go
when it’s been filtered through a human mind.
#micropoetry
and humans all excel in knowing thus;
they’re less enthused for em-dashes — I know,
a poem using such is kind of sus,
but sometimes that’s the way a poem will go
when it’s been filtered through a human mind.
#micropoetry
August 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
beneath a streetlight
standing in a slush puddle
we embraced — the world
was warm and glowing softly
on a dark December's eve
#tanka #TankaThursday
standing in a slush puddle
we embraced — the world
was warm and glowing softly
on a dark December's eve
#tanka #TankaThursday
August 28, 2025 at 11:36 PM
beneath a streetlight
standing in a slush puddle
we embraced — the world
was warm and glowing softly
on a dark December's eve
#tanka #TankaThursday
standing in a slush puddle
we embraced — the world
was warm and glowing softly
on a dark December's eve
#tanka #TankaThursday
August 28, 2025 at 12:53 PM