"Xanthippe" is a Greek figure from ancient Athenian history/ wife of Socrates, used as a metaphor for mental albatross, if you will. Obsession #2 Poetry Contest, Sponsor - Seth Pina. Date written: 06/11/2026
you're a grease-fire film attached to drywall like salt s p i I l e d over a cracked, unwashed shoulder, the dull toothache throbbing through a 3 a.m. call, growing older, sharper, colder... get out of my mind! you aren't some gothic ghost in a tragic shroud, but a raw static hiss on busted station; a sagging weight , a stationary, stubborn-as-a-mule cloud, a parasite fattening on my hesitation... get out of my mind! like orange rust, nibbling at a clean steel blade, the bitter, permanent ink-stain you've made; no velvet darkness here, no weeping willow, just concrete bricks in my chest, and grit on my pillow... oh, xanthippe....get out of my mind!
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