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Sean Bates

@seanjbates.bsky.social
4.4K followers 1.4K following 1.1K posts

writer/poet/educator substack.com/@seanjbates linktr.ee/seanbateswrites poems in: Paddler Press Emerge Literary Journal Stone Canoe Rising Phoenix Review "What Saves Us"anthology ed. Martín Espada tinyurl.com/44yksnmp

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Reposted by Sean Bates
Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
In 2012, I stood on a stage with Anne Carson as a volunteer grad student to help her perform BRACKO, an adaptation of Sappho, where my job was to say the word "bracket" every time there was a bracket, which was more than two hundred times
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Taco Bell Quarterly @tacobellquarterly.org · 08/10/2026
Love seeing this making the rounds again and will always retweet. We published one of the greatest poems of all time, as seen in the most prestigious literary magazine of all time:
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Katie L. Carroll @katielcarroll.com · 08/10/2026
Good thread! I also have noticed a gap between middle grade and YA where we lose readers, particularly boys. My 12yo son is a voracious reader, and my 15yo son likes reading but in a more casual way. I'm still finding books for them, but it's gotten harder as they move beyond MG.
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Rob Bignell, Editor/Author @inventingreality.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Meet these great indie authors who also write and read the genre at the Speculative Fiction Genre Indie Authors Starter Pack! If you wish to be included in the starter pack, reply here. #speculativefiction #writingcommunity #authorsky go.bsky.app/RSAwztf
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
mmm process 🤌
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The Moth Magazine @themothmagazine.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Breaking news! ⚡️ The Moth Poetry Prize 2026 is now OPEN for entries. We're absolutely thrilled to announce that our judge for this year is the incredible Pulitzer prize-winning poet Diane Seuss. ✨️ 1st Prize €6,000 ✨️ 3 runner-up prizes of €1,000 ✨️ 8 commended prizes of €250
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Oooo the longhand method. 🫡 Godspeed.
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Sean Kelly @storyslug.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
My man looks like he's made of a non-newtonian fluid. Oobleck-looking motherfucker.
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Laura Grace Weldon @lauragraceweldon.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Picture of bear slumped on a log. 

"Any chance y'all could analyze propaganda like you analyze tv shows or sports results?"
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Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Alexandra Naughton @alexandranaughton.bsky.social from Sick of Being Inside Myself @houseofvladpress.bsky.social
CHIRALITY

this poem is for the secret lover
sitting blue light faced while the other sleeps
reading every reply
on a Breaking Bad subreddit

this poem is for everyone
who was once a seventeen-year-old girl
who dated a guy
who made them watch La Jetée
it’s ok to watch it again
you’re not derivative
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You've memory-holed it. Your brain is protecting you, but this is from The Brave Little Toaster. I'm sorry.
Evil firefighter clown from brave little toaster holds a fork and garden hose nozzle. Wreathed in smoke and flame.
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
static.klipy.com
Surprised Pikachu Meme
ALT: Surprised Pikachu Meme
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Jeff Cytosine @jeffeatsleaves.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Go UMass! What is happening lol
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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
what in the WHAT
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm reading this as a curse poem
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
GrEy with the E is just superior. Well done.
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Jane Dougherty @janedougherty47.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A spontaneous one, written just now in anger for #poemsabout #rot for @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poetsofbluesky
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Martina Matijević @vientoverde.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A not-so-long-ago quarrel and the fact that @thebrokenspine.co.uk is looking for #PoemsAbout #Rot made me write an experimental #haibun. Happy Friday! Cheers!
Rot in Hell

Through the glassiness of suburban stars, I stretch out my hand to tuck them in. With each one, the root of red bleeds as if the devil's a painter. I splay my fingers like paintbrush bristles and sway them across the horizon. They tickle the gates. Suddenly, I become the black ink of the galactic canvas amid the last traces of fiery red. At once, I can hear the shouts of my family and the screams of the doomed. 

bathroom mirror —
mouthing the insult 
I left unsaid
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"Perhaps Something is Won" almost smells like a collection title
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Dean Norton @zentinl.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Happy Friday #PoemsAbout folks. This is mine for #rot Thank you @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poetrycommunity #poetry #poem #poems #skypoets #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry #poetsofbluesky #skypoet #writingcommunity
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Paul Cannon @pvcannon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
For #PoemsAbout #Rot With much thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk
A free verse poem that reflects on life and death.
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
@thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoemsAbout #Rot "Who Ever Heard That The Devil Was Dead?"
Who Ever Heard That The Devil Was Dead?



we must silence our mothers. 
we must silence our fathers. 
the seed did not take.
the old linger.
the magik failed.
the brine from breasts.
the children in soot.
the world woke up flat.
built on backs.
built on feet. 
built on backs.
we must chew this fruit. 
we must eat this pit.
raise spattered hand.
to spattered mouth.
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lukelukeluke @lukelukeluke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Here are some nice mushrooms
A family of translucent Mycena mushrooms rise from the side of a mossy log in a darkening fall forest. All photos by me
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Is it safe to come back to bluesky? Are we back?
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House of Vlad Press/Vlad Mag @houseofvladpress.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
☠️ WE OUT HERE ☠️
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Michael Metivier @grousehollow.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For the 29th year in a row cursing my early spring self out for not accidentally leaving a $20 bill in my light jacket pocket.
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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I say, I saw that this situation of mine was the precise situation of every mortal that breathes
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This Nor'easter demands a day of soup making.
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Pip Wren @lollibeepop.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A joyous fat bear week to all 🐻
A painting of fat blobby bears
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#5amwritersclub ... it's getting darker and crissssper out there
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Over The Garden Wall: Pumpkin Morning Song
ALT: Over The Garden Wall: Pumpkin Morning Song
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dirt of the looming dawn @upfromsumdirt.blacksky.app · 21/09/2026
octavia butler's notes on sexy
photo of a page of handwritten notes, some words are highlighted by being circled: those words include fear, striving, transformation, self-reliance, self-confidence, self-discipline, dependency, evil, good (is only sexy when it's very powerful, not sanctimonious, & not too good), opposites, and symbiosis l.
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Today writing is reading.
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Tim Curry's Evil Laugh as Jezebel Jack
ALT: Tim Curry's Evil Laugh as Jezebel Jack
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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I’ve got a new poem in the September issue of @splitlipthemag.bsky.social. It’s about the daughter my mother always wanted and the sister I dreamt of having.
IN THE FOREST OF MY OWN TEARS I SUDDENLY REMEMBER WANDA

It's the name my mother would've given her daughter if she ever had one instead of yet another son. Wanda.
I used to dream of climbing trees together & playing wizard of the forest together, though not in the forest of my tears.
This was always in the forest of my laughter. Always, despite how sad I got at times that my mother didn't get to have you.
Back then I climbed trees every day. These days I'm lost in the thickets of my phone. The other week I kept missing calls, turns out I forgot to turn off "do not disturb." Eventually I remembered, but couldn't remember how to actually do it, to say, Yes, I want to be disturbed again-by my phone, & by the world, I guess.
Then I googled it, instead of just asking Jeff (I think you would like Jeff), because I didn't want it to be a whole production again, a customer service situation, except between lovers, & I am the worstcustomer & the worst lover when trying to figure out my own phone. True, I'm a bit (Jeff would say a lot) of a Luddite. Well, a Luddite who's a screen fiend, & isn't that the perfect storm, wait, is that the right proverb, is it an idiom, I think you would know, Wanda. & now I'm remembering French class, how I adored learning new idiomatic expressions— lifit's Idiomatic Expressions Time! That's what happened in my head. How often I wished, Wanda, that you were at school with me. Say, only a year above me, but wise & capable of forming really cool sentences in French, & you'd never tease me in any language, or just a little, for what went on in my head. & after school we'd race from the bus to our favorite tree, though already we were a tad old to be playing like that, we'd play, we'd climb, we'd take turns being wizard of the forest, & laugh, we'd laugh so vast. At some point in our tree, you'd tell me which boy you liked, if any. Then I'd chime in with which one, or ones I liked. & though I could guess, & now know, thanks to my best friend Sam (you'd like him too), that having sisters can be very complicated, including or especially big sisters,back then I believed, needed to think that I could tell you every big thing. I could tell my sister, & then it was okay for a while that I couldn't tell anyone else in the family, it was alright because I had you. You, Wanda, & maybe that's sort of what she was thinking, believing, too, in her own forest early mornings or late at night, up in her own magical oak, when my mother was dreaming so hard about you.
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Hell Dunkin @halduncan.com · 20/09/2026
still from the end of the musical number in the monorail episode of The Simpsons but instead of "Monorail!" they're all singing "Omelas!"
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Casey Stegman @caseystegman.com · 21/09/2026
Sunday Scary Stories to tell in the Dark
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I was 16 when Spring Awakening debuted on Broadway. I never saw it. All I ever had was the CD. I consumed the soundtrack, the songs. I blasted Totally Fucked from an iPod mini amplified by a resonant cereal bowl... tidal.com/track/769781...
tidal.com
Jonathan Groff, Brian Johnson, Jonathan B. Wright, Gideon Glick, Skylar Astin, John Gallagher, Jr., Lea Michele, Lilli Cooper, Lauren Pritchard, Phoebe Strole & Remy Zaken - Totally Fucked (Original B...
Listen to Totally Fucked (Original Broadway Cast Recording/2006) on TIDAL in exceptional sound quality, or on your choice of service
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
#writing #music #art #broadway #musicals
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
After years of the CD and clips and bootlegs on YouTube, I am thankful I finally got to see a touring company of this show years later, it still sounded a bell inside me. I am thankful for that feeling. Thank you for Spring Awakening. Rip Duncan Sheik. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/a...
nytimes.com
Duncan Sheik, Who Traded Pop Stardom for Broadway, Dies at 56
Weary of the heartthrob label after his 1996 hit “Barely Breathing,” he pivoted to musical theater and won two Tonys for composing “Spring Awakening.”
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
...or Bo Burnham'a film "8th Grade", or Little Women or Rob Reiner's "Stand By Me" or S.E. Hinton' "The Outsiders" or Barry Jenkins's film "Moonlight" or or or) youtu.be/L_Bl9NIBvY8?... ...
youtu.be
Spring Awakening Tony Performance
YouTube video by Matthew Delker
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Art about youth is a fine line to walk because it is so rarely made by the young or by the old with the care and memory and honesty of what that time feels like. (I think of some successes like Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky...
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Some pieces of art get into you and stay. I have Spring Awakening songs in me, even if, from my older perspective, I look at my past love of them differently---knowingly but also kindly.
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I sang "Don't Do Sadness" at a school concert. I learned "Touch Me" on guitar and tried to sing the high harmonies, even wished my voice would keep changing so I could sing "There Once Was a Pirate".
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Duncan Sheik and Sater and collaborators wrote, sang, and stomped a show and songs that felt truly and deeply resonant to my freshly minted identity. I was naive and desperate to be taken seriously. These songs, this show, didn't pander and I saw a spirit in them I could value.
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Sean Bates @seanjbates.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I was 16 when Spring Awakening debuted on Broadway. I never saw it. All I ever had was the CD. I consumed the soundtrack, the songs. I blasted Totally Fucked from an iPod mini amplified by a resonant cereal bowl... tidal.com/track/769781...
tidal.com
Jonathan Groff, Brian Johnson, Jonathan B. Wright, Gideon Glick, Skylar Astin, John Gallagher, Jr., Lea Michele, Lilli Cooper, Lauren Pritchard, Phoebe Strole & Remy Zaken - Totally Fucked (Original B...
Listen to Totally Fucked (Original Broadway Cast Recording/2006) on TIDAL in exceptional sound quality, or on your choice of service
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Daniel Sturniolo @dansturn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This someone loops through this impossible space that is me
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Cole Wehrle @colewehrle.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I just checked the Organism campaign and was so disappointed to see that it hasn't funded yet. Y'all, this is seriously one of the most incredible designs of the decade and truly a perfect example of what Kickstarter is for. What are you waiting for? www.kickstarter.com/projects/ele...
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Graeme Richardson @ravoon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Two really good young poets. I'm going - please join me!
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