The Tattooed Poets Project: Carl Phillips

We're closing out this year's Tattooed Poets Project with <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/247">Carl Phillips</a>. I've had the pleasure, over the years, of meeting Carl and hearing him read on at least two different occasions at the <a href="http://www.newschool.edu/">New School</a> in Manhattan, in conjunction with the <a href="http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/">Best American Poetry</a> readings. Needless to say, when Carl agreed to participate, I was thrilled.<br /><br />Here's a photo of Carl's tattoo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CnqNWPNsLjw/USVRRCpCdGI/AAAAAAAAXdk/52qKKkDqe9M/s503/photo+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CnqNWPNsLjw/USVRRCpCdGI/AAAAAAAAXdk/52qKKkDqe9M/s640/photo+(1).JPG" width="478" /></a></div><br />Carl explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I got the tattoo after seeing a compass on a map in my copy of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1853260088/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1853260088&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EMoby%20Dick%20(Wordsworth%20Classics)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1853260088%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Moby Dick</a>. I chose not to include the N,S,W,E part, to suggest that I lack direction, though the compass itself suggests the desire for direction ... it's on my left upper arm. A guy named Barber did it, at a place here in St. Louis called <a href="http://ironagetattoo.com/wordpress/">Iron Age</a>."</blockquote>Carl pointed me to a few poems online that he said we could share here, and I chose this one:<br /><br /><b>Leda, After the Swan</b><br /><br />Perhaps,<br />in the exaggerated grace<br />of his weight<br />settling,<br /><br />the wings<br />raised, held in<br />strike-or-embrace<br />position,<br /><br />I recognized<br />something more<br />than swan, I can't say.<br /><br />There was just<br />this barely defined<br />shoulder, whose feathers<br />came away in my hands,<br /><br />and the bit of world<br />left beyond it, coming down<br /><br />to the heat-crippled field,<br /><br />ravens the precise color of<br />sorrow in good light, neither<br />black nor blue, like fallen<br />stitches upon it,<br /><br />and the hour forever,<br />it seemed, half-stepping<br />its way elsewhere--<br /><br />then<br />everything, I<br />remember, began<br />happening more quickly.<br /><br />~ ~ ~ <br /><br />You can hear Carl read the poem <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16180">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/247">Carl Phillips</a> is the author of twelve books of poetry, most recently <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374261210/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0374261210&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESilverchest:%20Poems%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0374261210%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Silverchest</a> (2013). He's a professor of English at <a href="http://english.artsci.wustl.edu/Carl_Phillips">Washington University</a> in St. Louis.<br /><br />Thanks to Carl for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0374261210" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Carl Phillips

We're closing out this year's Tattooed Poets Project with Carl Phillips . I've had the pleasure, over the years, of meeting Carl...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Susan Briante

Our next tattooed poet is <a href="https://ahsahtapress.org/product/susan-briante/">Susan Briante</a>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vuWxnqmZ9lM/UTCe7Am2MeI/AAAAAAAAXnw/X_b8hXW2c-U/s572/Photo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vuWxnqmZ9lM/UTCe7Am2MeI/AAAAAAAAXnw/X_b8hXW2c-U/s320/Photo1.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br />Susan explains the origins of this tattoo:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I got my tattoo in Albuquerque although its origins can be found in Oklahoma, where I took my first job out of college working for the now defunct <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Tribune">Tulsa Tribune</a>. I was making $13,000/year as a reporter covering public education. I rented a room in house with a view to the <a href="http://hesreport.sunocoinc.com/fw/main/Tulsa-Refinery-144.html">Sunoco</a> refinery. I was in love with two men, the closest of whom lived almost 700 miles away. Tattoo shops were illegal in Oklahoma at the time, so a friend told me about a tattoo artist from Arizona who would fly into Tulsa and tattoo after hours in the beauty parlor where her mother worked.<br /><br />I picked out the design from a Mexican <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milagro">milagro</a>, (literally 'miracle') a small metal charm usually in the shape of body part (eyes, lungs, arms) that could be pinned to the robe of a religious statue as offering. They were supposed to concretize the prayers of the faithful. A lung-shaped milagro, for example, might be pinned to the robe on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe">Virgin of Guadalupe</a> statue along with prayers for the health of a family member with a cough. For my tattoo, I chose a milagro heart with a dagger through it that I thought was supposed to ward off a broken heart.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">We awaited the arrival of the tattoo artist from Arizona. And when he didn’t show, I drove with my friend to Albuquerque—and got my tattoo there—where I’d met one of the men I had fallen in love with. The one I would marry and with whom I’d move to Mexico City. The one I would divorce.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I came back to the states, became a poet and started grad school, fell in and out of love a few more times. Early in an intense courtship with the poet Farid Matuk, we took photos of each other’s tattoos and started using them as screen savers on our cell phones. In the ten years since, we’ve moved in together, moved to Dallas, had a baby, got married in cupola of a Marfa, Texas, courthouse, switched cell phones and numbers, but we still have the same tattoo photos as screen savers.<br /><br />A few month ago I figured out what my next tattoo will be (Farid already has his) a copy of the birthmark that our daughter has on the inner arch of her right foot."</blockquote>Farid's tattoo appeared earlier today on Tattoosday.<br /><br />Susan directed us to her poem "Parking Space," which appeared <a href="http://www.versedaily.org/2007/parkingspace.shtml">here</a> on <a href="http://www.versedaily.org/">Verse Daily</a>:<br /><br /><b>Parking Space</b><br /><br />Billboards yield to burdened cloud,<br />a sulfur pink of population, supply-side chorus<br />in the static between stations<br /><br />while the evening sits with its shirt unbuttoned,<br />while the engine sings bones and armor,<br />thin legged ponies and miles for water.<br /><br />Jagged as sleep the sudden breech of elements,<br />rain scrubs stone, halogen rusts the sky.<br />You find the country pricked with neon,<br /><br />spread across the windshield like a centerfold,<br />until you smell the buckshot, watch the scout<br />who parts branches with a lover's rough fingers.<br /><br />As if there might be a place for us:<br />porch towns between the relay towers,<br />a folding chair just inside the garage,<br /><br />a bed of lottery tickets or a fistful of keys.<br />A bowl at the table. A parking space.<br />A window full of shallow hills.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times; font-size: xx-small;">Copyright © 2007 Susan Briante All rights reserved<br />from <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPioneers-Study-Motion-Susan-Briante%2Fdp%2F0916272931%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks%26qid%3D1180295283%26sr%3D1-1&tag=versedaily-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Pioneers in the Study of Motion</a></i> <br /><a href="http://ahsahtapress.boisestate.edu/">Ahsahta Press</a> <br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times;">Reprinted by Tattoosday with permission</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><a href="https://ahsahtapress.org/product/susan-briante/">Susan Briante</a> is the author of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0916272931/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0916272931&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EPioneers%20in%20the%20Study%20of%20Motion%20(Ahsahta%20Press:%20the%20New%20Series)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0916272931%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Pioneers in the Study of Motion</a> (2007) and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934103195/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1934103195&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EUtopia%20Minus%20(The%20New%20Series)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1934103195%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Utopia Minus</a> (2011) both published by <a href="https://ahsahtapress.org/">Ahsahta Press</a>. Her chapbook, <a href="http://dulcetshop.ecrater.com/p/11838297/susan-briante-the-market-is-a">The Market is a Parasite that Looks like a Nest</a>, part of an on-going lyric investigation of the stock market, was recently published by <a href="http://dulcetshop.ecrater.com/">Dancing Girl Press</a>. She is an associate professor of literature and creative writing at the <a href="http://www.utdallas.edu/">University of Texas at Dallas</a>. She lives in east Dallas with the poet Farid Matuk.<br /><br />Thanks to Susan for sharing her tattoo and her poem with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5939753004349768" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0916272931" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></span></span></b></div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5939753004349768" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5939753004349768" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5939753004349768" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1934103195" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></span></span></b></span></span></b></div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5939753004349768" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Susan Briante

Our next tattooed poet is Susan Briante : Susan explains the origins of this tattoo: "I got my tattoo in Albuquerque although its origi...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Farid Matuk

Our next tattooed poet is Farid Matuk.<br /><br />Check out this photo he sent:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6gFMRqXEEwU/USvvsZ0q2oI/AAAAAAAAXlk/Psqye4CTPtA/s572/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6gFMRqXEEwU/USvvsZ0q2oI/AAAAAAAAXlk/Psqye4CTPtA/s640/photo.jpg" width="476" /></a></div><br />That's Farid's foot on the bottom. He explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I had this piece done at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suffer-City-Tattoos/338515920754">Suffer City Tattoos</a> in Dallas, TX on New Year's day 2013. I believe the artist's name is Robert. I chose to replicate a freckle my daughter has on side of her right foot. I wanted to place a crown atop the freckle to suggest the special place she has in my heart.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ath7H9KnjQ/USvyOIcxT4I/AAAAAAAAXlw/0REGfVlLVz4/s327/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ath7H9KnjQ/USvyOIcxT4I/AAAAAAAAXlw/0REGfVlLVz4/s400/photo.jpg" width="305" /></a></div></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">She's also bossy in an endearing way, and I often feel I'm in training not to serve her needs (as the martyr model of parenting would have it), but to definitely make a place for her needs and agendas in my otherwise self-directed life. I guess this is typical of most parent/toddler relationships and the crown helps me commemorate this dynamic. I took the stylized crown design from a tattoo I saw show up on one of the many tattoo boards I follow on Pinterest. The original design has the crown adorning the top of a bird's head."</blockquote>Farid sent us his poem, "My Daughter All Yourn," which, he explained, "is one of a series of sonnets [he] wrote after studying the sonnets of <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/bernadette-mayer">Bernadette Mayer</a>. It appears (<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/23291">here</a>) on the <a href="http://www.poets.org/">Poets.org/Academy of American Poets website</a>."<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">My Daughter All Yourn</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">will she be closer to the falling away of the gaze of things than others?  <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">hands on the water she calls scene setting<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">hands on the table water over the houses and hills swimming<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">not the ocean or the sea but the frame of time she’ll tell of<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">wild happy yeses in her hands<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">she bites through in rage when rage<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">comes to her or we do and she’s too small a flag<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">what does our house say?  these borrowed things solid and whole<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">fabric lost to her a greasy boy speaks fast at the pizza stand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">more available to be seen the young in their concerns<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">amidst the old artifice paint a boat and it will mean a dream<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">put names of your dear ones in it all yourn standing up<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">these little soft hands she bites through the bright white light of summer <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">shines off sand and vinyl siding itself composed against the salt<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />Farid Matuk is the author of <a href="http://www.lettermachine.org/thisisa.html">This Isa Nice Neighborhood</a> (<a href="http://www.lettermachine.org/">Letter Machine Editions</a>, 2010) and the chapbooks <i>Is It The King? </i>(<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Effing-Press/114745625205825">Effing Press</a>, 2006) and <i>Riverside</i> (<a href="http://www.longhousepoetry.com/">Longhouse</a>, 2011). New poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming online at <a href="http://poets.org/">Poets.org</a> and in print in <a href="http://bwr.ua.edu/">Black Warrior Review</a>, <a href="http://www.thirdcoastmagazine.com/">Third Coast</a>, <a href="http://iowareview.uiowa.edu/">Iowa Review</a>, <a href="http://www.litline.org/mandorla/">Mandorla</a>, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291467-8705">Critical Quarterly</a> (UK), <a href="http://thebaffler.com/">The Baffler</a>, and other journals. <u>This Isa Nice Neighborhood</u> was a finalist for the <a href="http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/awards/annual/winners/?mode=award#nor_far_fir_boo_awa">Norma Farber First Book Prize</a>, and received honorable mention in the 2011 <a href="http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/bookaward">Arab American Book Award</a>. Matuk is a contributor to <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1848611846/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1848611846&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EScubadivers%20and%20Chrysanthemums:%20Essays%20on%20the%20Poetry%20of%20Araki%20Yasusada%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1848611846%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Scubadivers and Chrysanthemums: Essays On the Poetry of Araki Yasusada</a> (<a href="http://www.shearsman.com/">Shearsman</a>, 2011) and to the poetry anthologies <a href="http://www.vilcek.org/prizes/american-odysseys/index.html">American Odysseys: Writing from New Americans</a> (<a href="http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/">Dalkey Archive</a>, 2013) and <u>Beyond the Field</u> (<a href="http://counterpathpress.org/">Counterpath</a>, forthcoming). His new chapbook, <a href="https://ahsahtapress.org/product/my-daughter-la-chola/">My Daughter La Chola</a>, is forthcoming from <a href="https://ahsahtapress.org/">Ahsahta</a> in March, 2013.<br /><br />Thanks to Farid for sharing his poem and tattoo with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0981522750" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Farid Matuk

Our next tattooed poet is Farid Matuk. Check out this photo he sent: That's Farid's foot on the bottom. He explains: "I had thi...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Christopher Arigo

Our next tattooed poet is Christopher Arigo, who sent us this image from his thigh:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnn9nORIpuo/UST6eZjIh_I/AAAAAAAAXkM/-5PWAd16bOY/s572/DSCF0003-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnn9nORIpuo/UST6eZjIh_I/AAAAAAAAXkM/-5PWAd16bOY/s640/DSCF0003-2.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><br />He tells us:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Often referred to as “The Shaman” or “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorcerer_(cave_art)">The Sorceror</a>,” my tattoo is based on a sketch by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Breuil">Henri Breuil</a> of a cave painting from a cavern in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois_Fr%C3%A8res">Trois-Frères</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari%C3%A8ge">Ariège</a>, France. Breuil, a French archeologist, claimed that the drawing/etching represented a Paleolithic shaman, a kind of happy hunting juju. I’ve always been intrigued by this particular image---I remember seeing a picture of it when I was fairly young, probably in some Time-Life book about cave art or something. For me, it represents a connection to our not-so-distant Paleolithic past and I do hunt, so maybe some of its juju will rub off. I have several other cave art tattoos, so it’s also part of an ongoing theme on my body. There’s something very visceral and ancient about it. There is also the question: why did they make this art?</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Pintura_Trois_Freres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Pintura_Trois_Freres.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><br />The tattoo was done by <a href="http://www.pussykat-tattoos.com/riley.html">Riley Baxter</a> at <a href="http://www.pussykat-tattoos.com/">Pussykat Tattoo</a> in Las Vegas.<br /><br />The poem that Christopher sent us keeps with the Paleothic theme:<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Considering the fossils<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">once sap <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">now combustible <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">stone<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">once called <i>electron</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6058251288236499429" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">god-tears<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">carved petrified sun <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">once mixed</span><span style="font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">with rose-oil <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">for failing eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">now eyes <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">warm to the touch<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">burned as incense<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">burning to remember<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">and when you dig <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">it is hard to believe <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">the stone <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">was once wood<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">its rings now ring</span><span style="font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">with a finger's flick<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">no longer <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">ligneous <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">bark and cambium <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">visible <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">in cross-section<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">how to believe <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">that gingko leaves <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">leave behind <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">fan-shapes</span><span style="font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">veins and chloroplasts <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">almost intact <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">no xylem <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">left after rain <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">and pressure <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">and layers <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">and layers <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">of sand and relentless <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">lithography<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Perpetua; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">~ ~ ~ </span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Christopher Arigo’s first poetry collection <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188635071X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=188635071X&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ELit%20Interim%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=188635071X%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Lit Interim</a> won the 2001-2002 <a href="http://www.pavementsaw.org/pages/transaward.htm">Transcontinental Poetry Prize </a>(selected by <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/david-bromige">David Bromige</a>) and was published by <a href="http://www.pavementsaw.org/index.htm">Pavement Saw Press</a> (2003). His second collection <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890650315/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1890650315&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EIn%20the%20Archives%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1890650315%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">In the archives</a> (2007) was released by <a href="http://www.omnidawn.com/">Omnidawn Publishing.</a> His poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines including <a href="http://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/colorado-review/">Colorado Review</a>, <a href="http://www.newamericanwriting.com/">New American Writing</a>, <a href="http://www.barrowstreet.org/">Barrow Street</a>, and many others. He co-edits the literary journal <a href="http://www.interimmag.org/">Interim</a> with poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Keelan">Claudia Keelan</a> and is an Assistant Professor of English at <a href="http://www.wsu.edu/">Washington State University</a>. <br /><br />Thanks to Christopher for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=188635071X" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1890650315" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.18962762784212828" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Christopher Arigo

Our next tattooed poet is Christopher Arigo, who sent us this image from his thigh: He tells us: Often referred to as “The Shaman” or “ The ...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: David Jonathan Newman

We have another returning Tattooed Poets Project alumnus today, David.Jonathan Newman.<br /><br />David's previous contribution appeared two years ago, <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/04/tattooed-poets-project-david-jonathan.html">here</a>.<br /><br />This is a collage of a work-in-progress that David sent along for 2013:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N43_jXETjvQ/UW2htjZK3TI/AAAAAAAAXzo/taTLtWNjSkY/s572/splittat+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N43_jXETjvQ/UW2htjZK3TI/AAAAAAAAXzo/taTLtWNjSkY/s640/splittat+(1).jpg" width="465" /></a></div><br />David explains that this is:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"...a three-quarter sleeve on my left arm by none other than the famous <a href="http://www.larktattoo.com/index.php/artists/bruce/0">Bruce Kaplan</a>, owner of <a href="http://www.larktattoo.com/">Lark Tattoo</a> in Wesbury NY and Albany NY. We've both been very excited about this project and it's been in progress for over a year now; excited to be getting well into the color portion of it. Essentially, the tattoo is Bruce's take on a wicked thunderstorm; tidal waves, thunder and lightning, intimidating clouds and fire. Towards the end of the tattoo down by my forearms, the sun's rays come out through the cloud cover and the storm breaks. I've been through a lot in my life (just like many people) and this tattoo, like many of mine, is meant to remind me that I can get through every hardship I have coming; and that I was able to get through everything that's been thrown at me so far.<br /><br />The quote in script was a previous tattoo that Bruce has been going around... it was done years ago by <a href="http://www.davincitattoo.com/chris-koutsis.html">Chris Koutsis</a> at <a href="http://www.davincitattoo.com/">DaVinci Tattoo</a> in Wantagh NY. It says <i>It's What You Love, Not What Loves You</i> and was inspired by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kaufman">Charlie Kaufman</a> movie <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptation_(film)"><i>Adaptation</i></a>."</blockquote><br />David sent in this recent poem of his called "the night":<br /><br />the night.<br /><br />night comes<br /><br />night comes exhaled in<br />casually flourishing in the expanse as if we acquiesced to its maturation<br />planting its flag among the corpses of our plans for the day, unaccomplished<br />and the cold<br />glacial, numbing wind searing across flesh and foliage<br />air in your lungs like an icestorm<br />liquid nitrogen eventide<br /><br />the night is isolation<br />abandonment and abated breath<br />a brilliant abattoir of allegiances meant only to separate us and conquer hearts<br />colonize your capillaries with Cimmerian shade<br />circumventing circulation<br /><br />I poured out a little of my drink for her, it froze instantly as it hit the permafrost<br />exhaled into slow smoke, dancing in the lantern light<br />frustrated that something so inanimate could take on such life<br />such alluring life in this ruination and gloom <br />I miss you<br />god, I miss you<br />the way your teeth always backdrop for your smile<br />the way we interlock perfectly before dreams take us<br />the way you shuddershake when you climax<br /><br />you left me<br /><br />and I go unaccompanied into the night<br />with this drink and these thoughts<br />and this lantern<br />and this love <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />David Jonathan Newman has been a poet and vocalist/lyricist in bands, both on Long Island, NY and in Miami, FL. He is working on a collection of poetry, writes music as a solo artist and has a blog (<a href="http://captainselfdestruct.blogspot.com/">http://captainselfdestruct.blogspot.com</a>) where he posts both his solid works and stream of consciousness ideas. He's been winning poetry contests since 6th grade, but recently he's been featured in online publications including <a href="http://www.haggardandhalloo.com/">Haggard & Halloo Publications</a>, quite a few times - and even the Tattooed Poets Project, back in 2011. He's currently floundering back and forth between wanting to pursue his poetry pseudo-career to get more of his work out there, and the soul-crushing hopelessness that any poet feels, wanting to pursue their medium in the year 2013. <br /><br />Thanks to David for once again contributing to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7961767197120935" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7961767197120935" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">©2013 The Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday</span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7961767197120935" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></b></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7961767197120935" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.</span></span></b></div><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7961767197120935" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit</span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></b>

The Tattooed Poets Project: David Jonathan Newman

We have another returning Tattooed Poets Project alumnus today, David.Jonathan Newman. David's previous contribution appeared two years ...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Erika Lutzner

Today's tattooed poet is <a href="http://upstairsaterikas.com/">Erika Lutzner</a>, who sent us this photo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ejcFGsNMag/UQWFZVcn7RI/AAAAAAAAXHc/tjA5trCRL6s/s615/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ejcFGsNMag/UQWFZVcn7RI/AAAAAAAAXHc/tjA5trCRL6s/s320/photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Erika explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">I have five tattoos which tell the history of my story; skin is my canvas. The tattoo that I want to share is of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha">Ganesha</a>. I chose to get the tattoo of Ganesha because he is the remover of obstacles, and I was at a point in my life where my path was far from clear. Ganesha watches over me and keeps me grounded and safe. I also have a tattoo of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman">Hanuman</a> carrying a mountain. He represents strength and knowledge. <a href="http://anilgupta.com/">Anil Gupta</a> did all my tattoos. He is an amazing artist. He works on the Lower East Side at his shop, I<a href="http://www.inklinestudio.com/">nkline Studio Inc</a>. </blockquote>Erika sent us this poem, as well, which was first published in <a href="http://www.failbetter.com/index.php">failbetter</a>, July, 2009.<br /><br /><b>Blackness Slips Through Sundays</b><br /><b><br /></b>A mirror cannot speak truth<br />Just as a woman’s face masks<br />a madness<br />The man in the mug shot<br />Could be anyone’s husband, friend, father, —<br />The woman hides behind <br />fiction<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />Erika Lutzner is the editor of <a href="http://scapegoatreview.com/">Scapegoat Review</a>. She curates <a href="http://upstairsaterikas.com/">Upstairs at Erika’s</a>, a monthly writer's salon in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Her work can be found in various places such as failbetter, <a href="http://www.eclectica.org/">Eclectica Magazine</a>, and <a href="http://tygerburning.blogspot.com/p/tygerburning-literary-journal.html">Tygerburing Literary Journal</a>. Her first book, <a href="http://dulcetshop.ecrater.com/p/13731263/invisible-girls-erika-lutzner">Invisible Girls</a>, by <a href="http://www.dancinggirlpress.com/">dancing girl press</a> as well as a second book, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1269629043/some-stories-are-true-that-never-happened">Some Things Are True That Never Happened</a> (an anthology) are both out. She is working on various new projects. You can find Erika at <a href="http://upstairsaterikas.com/">http://upstairsaterikas.com/</a> as well as <a href="http://scapegoatreview.com/">http://scapegoatreview.com/</a>. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0B62GbXiPaPS08lIN03m-0BvWDzQjiqx4G4xFHD_kNfcBzlKfI8lVpqexXx2Lqh6CRmaMnBWu8mH3Bg8QhsyOGx26yUVV8qHRZ7TxgZVeietOJUgkcKWF6zRhfQ0yMVGWC4ottgZ874/s1600/4f2327c51a14d_80495n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0B62GbXiPaPS08lIN03m-0BvWDzQjiqx4G4xFHD_kNfcBzlKfI8lVpqexXx2Lqh6CRmaMnBWu8mH3Bg8QhsyOGx26yUVV8qHRZ7TxgZVeietOJUgkcKWF6zRhfQ0yMVGWC4ottgZ874/s400/4f2327c51a14d_80495n.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Erika for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Erika Lutzner

Today's tattooed poet is Erika Lutzner , who sent us this photo: Erika explains: I have five tattoos which tell the history of my story;...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Ethan Hon

Next up in the Tattooed Poets Project is Ethan Hon.<br /><br />I met up with Ethan in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn earlier this month and took photos of three of his tattoos.<br /><br />Ethan credits the talented artists at <a href="http://finelinetattoo.com/">Fineline Tattoo</a> in Manhattan.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uctzBzD1fIA/UW7lqmrX1VI/AAAAAAAAX6w/Nz1KcsQpQ7E/s615/IMG_0892.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uctzBzD1fIA/UW7lqmrX1VI/AAAAAAAAX6w/Nz1KcsQpQ7E/s640/IMG_0892.JPG" width="478" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Ethan explained that "the tattoos of Keats [above] and <i>f(x) </i>[below] were done by Mehai Bakaty." He added, "Keats is self-explanatory [and] F(x) I got done as reminder to be a person, to function."<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zRAK-nKdXu4/UW7lrp35TvI/AAAAAAAAX60/_sgZ1CG5jiU/s615/IMG_0893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zRAK-nKdXu4/UW7lrp35TvI/AAAAAAAAX60/_sgZ1CG5jiU/s640/IMG_0893.JPG" width="580" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>As for the third tattoo (directly below), Ethan explained,<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mhrckjSfH5k/UW7lwOt1BzI/AAAAAAAAX64/xTV912ez2KQ/s615/IMG_0895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mhrckjSfH5k/UW7lwOt1BzI/AAAAAAAAX64/xTV912ez2KQ/s640/IMG_0895.JPG" width="340" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Mike Bakaty tattooed <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Lindner_-_Boy_with_Machine_(1954).png">Boy with Machine</a></i> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindner_(painter)">Richard Lindner</a> [and] was done because I couldn't stop looking at it and also because as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Deleuze">Deleuze</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Guattari">Guattari</a> remind us: <i>A schizophrenic out for a walk is a better model than a neurotic lying on the analyst's couch. A breath of fresh air, a relationship with the outside world.</i></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">I have two other tattoos not pictured: Cascading black hearts and [one] of Ulysses with his dog once he has returned, along with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Geulincx">Arnold Geulincx</a> phrase, 'Ubi nihil vales, ibi nihil velis' translated roughly as 'Where you are worth nothing, then you shall want for nothing' beneath it.</blockquote>Ethan sent us this poem:<br /><br /><b>Red Hook</b><br /><br />Jesus has dicks for hands<br />we must not tell him. Of course,<br />we will never tell him. Again,<br />or rather once, Dan walked, drenched<br />from New Jersey, home to New Jersey. <br />Last night I lay on the floor with a dog <br />named Pirate. Don’t tell Creezy. <br />When Santo told me his tattoo<br />was of his brother, I told him he should<br />never wear sleeves. It was not but<br />it was warm. I should only think<br />of things that are dripping with fuck--<br />across her lips, I did not negotiate a life<br />preserver. The world opens to my de-claring.<br />To have once been enamored is nice<br />but now I think everyone is divorcing,<br />Sail by me on your bicycles,<br />saying, “See you next Tuesday.”<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />Ethan J. Hon is from Omaha, Nebraska. He is a co-founder of <a href="http://www.jerrymagazine.com/about_us">JERRY MAGAZINE</a>. His poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in <a href="http://www.screen-paper.com/mag/">Screen and Paper</a>, <i>TheThe</i>, <a href="http://thenewinquiry.com/">The New Inquiry</a>, <a href="http://dossierjournal.com/">Dossier</a>, <a href="http://www.tinhouse.com/home">Tin House</a>, <a href="http://cimarronreview.com/">Cimarron Review</a>, <a href="http://flesheatingpoems.blogspot.com/">Cannibal</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nebraska_Review">Nebraska Review</a>, and <i>Assembly Magazine</i>. His paper “It Is Easier to Raise a Shrine than Bring the Deity Down to Haunt It: Beckett in the Blogosphere” was presented in June of 2011 at <a href="http://www.outofthearchive.com/p/programme.html">Samuel Beckett: Out of the Archive International Conference</a>. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.<br /><br />Thanks to Ethan for contributing to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> <b id="internal-source-marker_0.7852143461350352" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Ethan Hon

Next up in the Tattooed Poets Project is Ethan Hon. I met up with Ethan in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn earlier this month and to...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Laura Mullen

Our next tattooed poet is <a href="http://www.lauramullen.biz/">Laura Mullen</a>, who sent us this photo of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koi">koi</a> on her ankle:.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XG-apNmzvw/USzEkvL3hTI/AAAAAAAAXm4/4X4yoyBjaO0/s572/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XG-apNmzvw/USzEkvL3hTI/AAAAAAAAXm4/4X4yoyBjaO0/s400/photo.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Laura explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"The fish was a celebration of a book, early on (#2 maybe?)--somewhere before I realized how serious I was about this book stuff? I mean, these days, I think a bottle (or so) of champagne is fine now (I'm glad I don't have 7 or 8 tattoos!) (I have two); I'm more like, Okay that's awesome, another book, now let's get back to work.<br /><br />(I'd like another tattoo at some point but the right place and occasion need to be clear.)<br />This Koi was done is San Francisco at a studio my friend <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/240">Joshua Clover</a> recommended: <a href="http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/63-222-tattoo-stories-memories-pictures-page2.html">222 Tattoo</a>. [The shop closed in 2000, according to references <a href="http://thatsthehookup.com/headlines/tatuesday-studio-visit-with-eddy-deutsche/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/63-222-tattoo-stories-memories-pictures-page2.html">here</a>.]</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Can't recall the name of the artist who did the work, sorry…there was some effort put in, as you can tell, and the fish--out of the sun mostly--is holding up well."</blockquote>Laura was kind enough to send along the following poem which "is unpublished and newish":<br /><br /><b>The Plastic Wrapper</b><br /><br />The war on drugs<br />The war on terror<br />The war on kids<br />The war on bullshit<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on guns<br />The war on health<br />The war on bacon<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on war<br />The GOP war on voting<br />The Left’s war on fertility<br />The war on Weed<br />The war on salt<br />The war on poverty <br />The war on women<br />The war on moms<br />The Republican war on Science<br />Why can’t the army win the war on suicide<br />The war on truth<br />The war on fun<br />Stop the war on Iran before it starts<br />The war on drugs <br />The war on terror<br />The war on coal<br />The war on Democracy<br />The war on sharing<br />The war on Terror<br />The war on Drugs<br />The war on free clicks<br />The war on health<br />The war on poverty<br />The war on cancer<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on drugs is a failure<br />The war on evil<br />The war on the war on coal<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on drugs is just plain crazy<br />The war on terror<br />House approves stop the war on coal bill<br />The war on work<br />War on terror the board game<br />The war on Islam<br />Iraq War<br />End the war on pubic hair<br />The war on cameras<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on success<br />The war on bacon<br />The war on cancer<br />The war on Christmas<br />Gulf war<br />The war on Choice<br />The war on bugs<br />The war against boys<br />The war on immigrants<br />The war on poverty<br />The war on Pellagra<br />The battle for the war on women<br />The war on terror<br />The war on coal is a myth<br />The war on drugs is a failure<br />The war on Children<br />The war on women<br />The war on silver<br />The war on wolves<br />The war on terror is over<br />The war on kids<br />The war on the middle class<br />The war on the poor<br />The war on animals<br />The war on cancer <br />The war on terror<br />The war on Christmas<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on drugs the war on drugs<br />The war on democracy<br />The war on bugs<br />The war on terror<br />Rupert Murdoch’s war on journalism<br />The Christian right and the war on America<br />The war on drugs<br />The war on women<br />The war on Iraq<br />The war on drugs the war on democracy<br />The war on the bill of rights <br />The war on baby boomers<br />The war on American jobs<br />The war on business<br />The war on success<br />The war on gays<br />The war against the weak<br />The war on doping<br />The war on wrong<br />An end to the war on drugs?<br />The war on terror is ‘over’<br />The war on cameras<br />The war on Syria<br />The war on drugs is lost<br />The war on women<br />The war on men<br />The war on teachers<br />The war on health<br />The war on finance<br />The war on margarine<br />The war on bagpipes<br />The war on Wisconsin<br />The war on Sexual Temptation<br />The war on crooked police<br />The war on pizza<br />The war on java<br />The war on Nixon<br />The war of art<br />The war on everything<br />Defend America<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br /><a href="http://www.lauramullen.biz/">Laura Mullen</a> is the author of seven books: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984528989/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0984528989&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EEnduring%20Freedom%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0984528989%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Enduring Freedom: A Little Book of Mechanical Brides</a>, just out from <a href="http://www.otis.edu/academics/graduate_writing/seismicity_editions.html">Otis Books / Seismicity Editions</a>, and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/025206187X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=025206187X&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EThe%20SURFACE:%20POEMS%20(National%20Poetry%20Series)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=025206187X%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">The Surface</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082032096X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=082032096X&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EAfter%20I%20Was%20Dead:%20Poems%20(Contemporary%20Poetry%20(Univ%20of%20Georgia%20Paperback))%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=082032096X%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">After I Was Dead</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520242947/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0520242947&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESubject%20(New%20California%20Poetry)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0520242947%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Subject</a> and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520268865/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0520268865&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EDark%20Archive%20(New%20California%20Poetry)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0520268865%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Dark Archive</a> (<a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/">University of California Press</a>, 2011), <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0932716482/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0932716482&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EThe%20Tales%20Of%20Horror:%20%20[A%20Flip-Book]%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0932716482%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">The Tales of Horror</a>, and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097168006X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=097168006X&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EMurmur%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=097168006X%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Murmur</a>. Recognitions for her poetry include Ironwood’s Stanford Prize, two Board of Regents ATLAS grants, a <a href="http://www.nea.gov/">National Endowment for the Arts</a> Fellowship and a <a href="http://www.ronajaffefoundation.org/">Rona Jaffe Award</a>, among other honors. She has had several <a href="http://www.macdowellcolony.org/secondcentury/fellowships/">MacDowell Fellowships</a> and is a frequent visitor at the Summer Writing Program at the <a href="http://www.naropa.edu/academics/jks/">Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa</a>. Her work has been widely anthologized and is included in <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393333752/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0393333752&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EAmerican%20Hybrid:%20A%20Norton%20Anthology%20of%20New%20Poetry%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0393333752%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">American Hybrid</a> (<a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/index.aspx">Norton</a>), and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934254339/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1934254339&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EI'll%20Drown%20My%20Book:%20Conceptual%20Writing%20by%20Women%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1934254339%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">I'll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women</a> (<a href="http://www.lesfigues.com/lfp/index.php">Les Figues</a>). Undersong, the composer <a href="http://www.ensemble21.com/">Jason Eckardt’s</a> setting of “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KpQWw5gBqc">The Distance (This)</a>” (from <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520242947/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0520242947&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESubject%20(New%20California%20Poetry)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0520242947%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Subject</a>) was released on <a href="http://www.moderecords.com/">Mode</a> records in 2011. Mullen is the McElveen Professor in English at <a href="http://www.lsu.edu/">LSU</a> and a special interest delegate in Creative Writing for the <a href="http://www.mla.org/">Modern Language Association</a>. She is a contributing editor for the on-line poetry site <a href="http://www.thevolta.org/">The Volta</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Laura for her contribution to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0984528989" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0520242947" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=025206187X" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=082032096X" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0520268865" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3747453649993986" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b></div><br />

The Tattooed Poets Project: Laura Mullen

Our next tattooed poet is Laura Mullen , who sent us this photo of a koi on her ankle:. Laura explains: "The fish was a celebration of...

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The Tattoosday Book Review: Skin Graf - Masters of Graffiti Tattoo

I guess it's no surprise to me that a quality book about the convergence of graffiti and tattoo art  has come to pass. Even less surprising is that Michael "Kaves" McLeer is involved.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.randomhouse.de/content/edition/covervoila_hires/Skin_Graf_130573.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://www.randomhouse.de/content/edition/covervoila_hires/Skin_Graf_130573.jpg" width="556" /></a></div><br />Kaves is co-author, with Billy Burke, of  <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/3791346636/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=3791346636&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESkin%20Graf:%20Masters%20of%20Graffiti%20Tattoo%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=3791346636%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">Skin Graf: Masters of Graffiti Tattoo</a>, which is being released tomorrow, April 25, 2013, by <a href="http://www.randomhouse.de/prestel_eng/index.jsp">Prestel Publishing</a>.<br /><br />In fact, before I even talk about the book, I should alert readers that tonight, April 24, 2013, Kaves and Burke, along with writer/producer <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2210594/">Sacha Jenkins</a>, will be speaking at the<a href="http://www.nypl.org/"> New York Public Library</a> as part of the library's "Design and Style Series." The event runs from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and I plan on being in attendance. Directions and further details can be found <a href="http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2013/04/24/design-and-style-michael-kaves-mcleer-billy-burke-sacha-jenkins-skin-graf">here</a>.<br /><br />I am not a native New Yorker, but when I moved here in 1997, I settled in south Brooklyn, in the area known as Bay Ridge. My fellow city-dwellers who have lived here longer, recall the days when graffiti artists were household names, and have their share of memories of subway cars that were moving billboards for the daring and adventurous artists of this often-misunderstood art form.<br /><br />When I started blogging about tattoos in 2007, it really was a learn-as-you-go experience for me. I first encountered the work of Kaves a year later, with <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/08/under-verrazano-narrows-bridge.html">this post</a>. A year later, I met him, after he opened up shop on 93rd and 3rd near my home in Bay Ridge, and had the pleasure of watching him tattoo close-up (while I was being tattooed by another artist working in the space). His shop, <a href="http://www.brooklynmadetattoo.com/index.html">Brooklyn Made Tattoo</a>, is a fixture in the neighborhood and I run into Kaves from time to time, such as when he shared <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/05/mr-kaves-shares-mark-mahoney-portrait.html">this tattoo</a>, which was done by the legendary <a href="http://www.shamrocktattoo.com/">Mark Mahoney</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JaCDZW4Xrwhg8_wzDiz0yW1ZywzBlYXjNAd7Kr0qOISeq98iaTmg665a4RXwx18_X4thwaG4vfKD_tJQFrP8Xs8_oXOHeSEmbAsiMnpd0jVOaFPE6QQxmURy_SMFuvLMPtBLRmS_Dl8/s1600/Author+Photo+-+Kaves+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JaCDZW4Xrwhg8_wzDiz0yW1ZywzBlYXjNAd7Kr0qOISeq98iaTmg665a4RXwx18_X4thwaG4vfKD_tJQFrP8Xs8_oXOHeSEmbAsiMnpd0jVOaFPE6QQxmURy_SMFuvLMPtBLRmS_Dl8/s400/Author+Photo+-+Kaves+1.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><br />So you can imagine my excitement about the opportunity to read and review this new book, which chronicles   the history of some of the most well-known graffiti artists who have crossed over into the business of tattooing.<br /><br />The list of artists ranges from Kaves to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seen_(artist)">Seen</a> ("the undisputed godfather of graffiti-inspired art on skin"), and includes <a href="http://www.tuffcitystyles.com/tattoo.php">Med</a>, <a href="http://www.vintagetattoola.com/">Baba</a>, <a href="http://therealmrcartoon.blogspot.com/">Mister Cartoon</a>, <a href="http://www.mikegiant.com/bio.php">Giant</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rob.ces/about">Ces</a>, <a href="http://www.graffitiprojects.com/exchange/writers/yes2.html">Yes2</a>, <a href="http://mikepyro.tumblr.com/">Pyro</a>, <a href="http://www.normwillrise.com/">Norm</a>, <a href="http://helzkidz.webs.com/">Helz</a> and Coast.<br /><br />Each artist merits a chapter, cleverly color-tabbed, and chock-full of wonderful photos by <a href="http://www.estevanoriol.com/">Estevan Oriol</a> and <a href="http://angelaboatwright.com/index.php/portfolio/category/C9/">Angela Boatwright</a>, and supplemented by many of the artists, as well.<br /><br />The reader is introduced to each of these legendary figures with their tags, locations (Bronx, Brooklyn, San Francisco, L.A., Boston...), a small biographical blurb, and several pages of first-person narrative, accompanied by pictures of both art forms, graffiti and tattoo.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNea-WhfcVges9KDNfOhAXnSUf_YtJMlL9JIBj-7lzOSswr1jYE0Qq593DvSfbfEjCCi4U2qSOBOtr57mI9CzYBHGtrGae0GjpbF5kHwikyN7woODs9R4NmeH4uO3bOm1qp7mzNDZv9ME/s1600/page+19+-+Seen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNea-WhfcVges9KDNfOhAXnSUf_YtJMlL9JIBj-7lzOSswr1jYE0Qq593DvSfbfEjCCi4U2qSOBOtr57mI9CzYBHGtrGae0GjpbF5kHwikyN7woODs9R4NmeH4uO3bOm1qp7mzNDZv9ME/s400/page+19+-+Seen.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Seen<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo by Estevan Oriol<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>The juxtaposition is brilliant, as the reader is treated to the sense of styles jumping from inanimate to animate, from brick to flesh. And just to prove to the naysayers who may question the "validity" of graffiti as an art form  we also see more traditional tattoos from these amazing artists, but with that extra something, a touch of the urban art that lies within the steady hand of the tattooers.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3iXrV2hqiFvb8mVeLxighctcgbs6NfbmnXO9g4S1KIXv_Yv_H_VXdGm2nlg50_nirO_7UcOsAqcXYHv0aNN9q_ywqNBBdW8b33mh9B7NT5yHF0wJRiBVuJDVtuqAGecuaWT3jN3ERD0/s1600/page+85+-+Mister+Cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3iXrV2hqiFvb8mVeLxighctcgbs6NfbmnXO9g4S1KIXv_Yv_H_VXdGm2nlg50_nirO_7UcOsAqcXYHv0aNN9q_ywqNBBdW8b33mh9B7NT5yHF0wJRiBVuJDVtuqAGecuaWT3jN3ERD0/s640/page+85+-+Mister+Cartoon.jpg" width="556" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">by Mister Cartoon<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo by Estevan Oriol<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>I can't praise enough the ambitiousness and scope of this project, which succeeds to no end. It's amazing to see the versatility of these exceptional artists who can work as impressively on a canvas the size of a building facade or on something as small as the side of a hand.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_YX1c45ask6tsRnvC-gHOnkkQ2VjxhlcNfW9nrXIQSq11TBC7QXzNDAiVluNhNRohCAUy0viYwxJYn9HRcOdwW5sZBti1h6WArxSFZTiHehKNqaWLn8QrAtsFgrMG_xUf1laCwsHqdI/s1600/page+179+-+Pyro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_YX1c45ask6tsRnvC-gHOnkkQ2VjxhlcNfW9nrXIQSq11TBC7QXzNDAiVluNhNRohCAUy0viYwxJYn9HRcOdwW5sZBti1h6WArxSFZTiHehKNqaWLn8QrAtsFgrMG_xUf1laCwsHqdI/s640/page+179+-+Pyro.jpg" width="586" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Pyro Can<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo by Estevan Oriol<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6058251288236499429" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziyojJsyhdDSzbxneCloPhD4SD2RwVec75P96Nt-aOhbKKs_YwAoDoNz_k_yhLq2_gfoiWdlsDqAKcMChbJucxTTQDqJJVMrHr3nwXtFMPcVflHbLhd-FLHXl6PbwYJPlBSSQm7i0_pw/s1600/page+103+-+Kaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjziyojJsyhdDSzbxneCloPhD4SD2RwVec75P96Nt-aOhbKKs_YwAoDoNz_k_yhLq2_gfoiWdlsDqAKcMChbJucxTTQDqJJVMrHr3nwXtFMPcVflHbLhd-FLHXl6PbwYJPlBSSQm7i0_pw/s640/page+103+-+Kaves.jpg" width="548" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">by Kaves <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Photo by Angela Boatwright</span></td></tr></tbody></table>This book really is a visual treat.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEGL0bfJzxukK2uK_PgB9YgOC2gLL-_GctrL22rA59SZ3_oSJ2oq_51HQQD8nyO9w4GZKkANKICOnPtLFpdCaJgQW1hjFJXJ7keh7GxmDks_WbmGf3e_zV42cn65bT2aejVRz8bV5Q3UY/s1600/page+124+-+Mike+Giant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEGL0bfJzxukK2uK_PgB9YgOC2gLL-_GctrL22rA59SZ3_oSJ2oq_51HQQD8nyO9w4GZKkANKICOnPtLFpdCaJgQW1hjFJXJ7keh7GxmDks_WbmGf3e_zV42cn65bT2aejVRz8bV5Q3UY/s640/page+124+-+Mike+Giant.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">by Mike Giant<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Courtesy of Giant</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSKUDrZx5q-4g-GaiY2ujfcbRBilJEcHA8qDVt85nws-2Xr-QZRiwR0QqP0Oragk64hyphenhyphenIZ9gmvVFtLdL-RXoWGmOry-5LxCSX4qnE36yj-Yi79HujKA-mBo1K_jYKkPNzBVQ_wsURIgg/s1600/page+125+-+Mike+Giant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuSKUDrZx5q-4g-GaiY2ujfcbRBilJEcHA8qDVt85nws-2Xr-QZRiwR0QqP0Oragk64hyphenhyphenIZ9gmvVFtLdL-RXoWGmOry-5LxCSX4qnE36yj-Yi79HujKA-mBo1K_jYKkPNzBVQ_wsURIgg/s640/page+125+-+Mike+Giant.jpg" width="322" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">by Mike Giant<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Courtesy of Giant</span></td></tr></tbody></table>The range of talent is breath-taking and I whole-heartedly recommend <u>Skin Graf</u> as a must-have for fans of graffiti art and tattooing.<br /><br />My only criticism is that I want more. The book is bursting with color and styles, but it leaves me with questions, and wanting more. I would love to see a sequel. Are there any established female graffiti/tattoo artists? How about from other parts of the world? Hopefully we'll see a <u>Skin Graf 2</u>!<br /><br />This book will hook you with its serious appreciation of the history and art of graffiti tattoo. It certainly expands one's appreciation of the art form, both on and off the human canvas. It's a must-have for your tattoo library!<br /><br />Remember, if you're in New York City tonight, come to the New York Public Library to hear the authors discuss this incredible book.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=3791346636" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><b id="docs-internal-guid-37263786-3bef-f11a-882e-c9404db4c5c6" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></b><br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-37263786-3bef-f11a-882e-c9404db4c5c6" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.</span></span></b></div><b id="docs-internal-guid-37263786-3bef-f11a-882e-c9404db4c5c6" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit</span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b>

The Tattoosday Book Review: Skin Graf - Masters of Graffiti Tattoo

I guess it's no surprise to me that a quality book about the convergence of graffiti and tattoo art  has come to pass. Even less surpris...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Bridget Lowe

Our next tattooed poet is <a href="http://bridgetlowe.com/">Bridget Lowe</a>, who sent us this photo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GqGtPwxT_0M/URfKLdVXmYI/AAAAAAAAXXc/NT1eUDZVhNQ/s615/Bridget+Lowe_tattoo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GqGtPwxT_0M/URfKLdVXmYI/AAAAAAAAXXc/NT1eUDZVhNQ/s400/Bridget+Lowe_tattoo.JPG" width="322" /></a></div><br />Bridget explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I got this tattoo rather impulsively in the fall of 2008 in Syracuse, New York, at the excellent <a href="http://halo-tattoo.com/site/">Halo Tattoo</a>. I had recently found out that my surname came with a motto, <i>Spero meliora</i>, which translates to 'I hope for better things.' I just thought it was hilarious and apt that the Lowe family motto pronounced to merely hope, while so many other family mottoes announce intentions to destroy, maim, annihilate, etc. The motto seemed like a weirdly accurate summation of my Irish Catholic ancestors, who were overall a suffering bunch, from coal miners to morphine addicts to alcoholics to religious fanatics to general melancholics. <i>Better things</i>--that’s not much to ask for, and they asked so nicely. It really killed me. "</blockquote>Bridget was also kind enough to send us this poem:<br /><br /><b>Heaven</b><br /><br />The villagers are reading hot guts<br />and drinking tonics. I’m relaxing<br />on a rock, sunning my midsection,<br />my delicate white legs.<br />The palm trees stand stiff<br />in the wind, archaic, shyly optimistic,<br />foreign. A Cuban boy <br />presents me with a muffin, his homeland <br />a mere neck’s-turn away. <br />My hair blows this way <br />and that, as if I’m the featured guest <br />in a music video from my childhood.<br />For every broken heart, one golf course. <br />Everything comes out even.<br />The birds call me by name <br />and while I’m distracted, fish heap themselves<br />into my basket. And the loaves,<br />the loaves! They multiply.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br /><a href="http://bridgetlowe.com/">Bridget Lowe</a> is the author of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887485634/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0887485634&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EAt%20the%20Autopsy%20of%20Vaslav%20Nijinsky%20(Carnegie%20Mellon%20Poetry%20Series)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0887485634%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20!important;%20margin:0px%20!important;%22%20/%3E">At the Autopsy of Vaslav Nijinsky</a> (<a href="http://www.cmu.edu/universitypress/">Carnegie Mellon University Press</a>, 2013). Her poems have appeared in <a href="https://www.aprweb.org/">American Poetry Review</a>, <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/">The New Republic</a>, <a href="http://www.pshares.org/">Ploughshares</a>, <a href="http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/pages/volumes/?id=2011">The Best American Poetry</a> (2011), and elsewhere. She has received a <a href="http://bostonreview.net/about/contest/index.php#Discovery">"Discovery"/Boston Review award</a> and fellowships to attend <a href="http://www.macdowellcolony.org/">The MacDowell Colony</a> and the <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/blwc">Bread Loaf Writers' Conference</a>. She lives in Kansas City.<br /><br />Thanks to Bridget for sharing her poem and tattoo with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0887485634" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b> <b id="internal-source-marker_0.5505930301733315" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Bridget Lowe

Our next tattooed poet is Bridget Lowe , who sent us this photo: Bridget explains: "I got this tattoo rather impulsively in the fall of...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Kevin Patrick Lee

Our next tattooed poet is Kevin Patrick Lee, who had initially expressed an interest last year in our project, but we had to wait for 2013 to run his submission.<br /><br />We're running this post on a Tat-Tuesday, because, as Kevin explains, he sent us "two poems ... regarding the subject matter of each [tattoo]." And because, "each poem gives insight into the respective tattoo," he adds, "...further explanation isn't needed."<br /><br />First, the tattoos, side by side on Kevin's inner forearms:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E_xbS4AY7zs/URfDwLgDJeI/AAAAAAAAXW4/GVMSwIQJ9HY/s572/PopsFrida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E_xbS4AY7zs/URfDwLgDJeI/AAAAAAAAXW4/GVMSwIQJ9HY/s640/PopsFrida.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br />We'll start with the tattoo on  the left (Kevin's right), which is a portrait of his father. Followers of the television series <i><a href="http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/la-ink/about-la-ink.htm">L.A. Ink</a></i> might remember this piece, which was featured on the show and created by <a href="http://www.sixfeetunder.com/">Corey Miller</a> at <a href="http://www.highvoltagetattoo.com/">High Voltage Tattoo</a> in West Hollywood.<br /><br />This is the accompanying poem:<br /><br /><br /><b>The Reality</b><br /><br />My father died in my arms<br />early on a Thursday morning.<br /><br />I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t even sad.<br />there was no time or room for that;<br />that was my mother’s job.<br /><br />At the time, my brother and I<br />worked in the same warehouse,<br />the same dirt, the same grime,<br />the same bullshit from corporate pricks.<br /><br />The day after my dad died,<br />my brother was back at work,<br />and I made it in the day after that.<br />We probably worked harder those few days,<br />than we ever had before.<br /><br />And we got a lot of awkward looks,<br />uncertain stares that said,<br />“Hey, what are you doing here?<br />You should be at home, wilting and weeping.”<br /><br />But like our hard-working Irish father,<br />we are blue-collared through and through,<br />until one day we too kick the bucket<br />butt naked on the cold linoleum<br />of the bathroom floor<br />some unsuspecting morning.<br /><br />And though we have a lifetime to mourn,<br />the truth is,<br />bills don’t stop for death<br />and rent is always due on the 1st.<br /><br />===========================================================<br /><div><br /></div><div>The tattoo on the right (Kevin's left) is based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo">Frida Kahlo's</a> painting "<a href="http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/57/index.html">The Broken Column</a>" and was tattooed by <a href="http://www.theartoflondon.com/">Brittan "London" Reese</a> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VaticanStudios">Vatican Studios</a> in Lake Forest, California. The poem accompanying this tattoo is "Hooked":</div><br /><br /><b>Hooked</b><br /><br /><br />When I walked out of our apartment for the last time,<br />I grabbed every roll of toilet paper.<br />I took the clips that tacked down the cable wire.<br />I picked up all the damn bobby pins that miraculously<br />flew out of my wife’s hair and onto the carpet.<br /><br />I stripped everything, except 2 hooks on the wall.<br />The two hooks that held up a painting that brought my wife and I together;<br />It was Frida Kahlo’s Broken Column.<br />There is nothing romantic or sexy about the painting,<br />except perhaps Frida’s bare breasts,<br />which I’m sure weren’t as perfect as<br />Salma Hayek’s breasts which played the part of Frida’s breasts<br />in Julie Taymor’s 2002 amazingly colorful film.<br /><br />I don’t know what my wife’s attraction to the painting was,<br />and I still don’t,<br />but I identified with the nails scattered all over her body<br />and the literal broken column of her spine.<br /><br />There were times in my mid-twenties where I couldn’t<br />roll over in bed to turn off my alarm clock because the discs<br />in my back were angry over their current living situation.<br />My doctor asking me, “So when do you want to schedule surgery.”<br />I never took her up on her offer,<br />instead popping pain pills and muscle relaxants when needed.<br />Luckily I have never been the addict.<br /><br />And I have nothing to complain about,<br />as so many people have it worse.<br />I know a woman who had something<br />implanted in her that would permanently<br />block the pain receptors going to her back,<br />because without it, she would have hung herself.<br /><br />This was our favorite painting separately before we met,<br />and perhaps it just goes to show that sometimes<br />pain and suffering leads to extraordinary things.<br /><br />I left the apartment and those two hooks,<br />and wanted to beg the landlord to keep them there,<br />so that perhaps it would bring inspiration to two more people<br />to hang something on the wall together,<br />the walls that hold them together,<br />the walls that keep them safe together,<br />so that they could fall in love here,<br />make a family here,<br />so that they could one day move on<br />and beg the landlord to leave the hooks in the wall.<br /><br />===========================================================<br /><br />Kevin Patrick Lee is the husband of a beautiful blue-eyed woman, and the father of a cool blue-eyed boy. He hosts a monthly poetry series called <i><a href="http://aorticbooks.wordpress.com/readings/">The Hump Readings</a></i>, was a founder of <a href="http://lbpoetryfestival.blogspot.com/">Beside the City of Angels: a Long Beach Poetry Festival</a>, and runs <a href="http://aorticbooks.wordpress.com/">Aortic Books</a>. His work has appeared in book collections and many great small press mags. A book is forthcoming in 2013 by <a href="http://worldparadebooks.wordpress.com/">World Parade Books</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Kevin for sharing his poetry and tattoos with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.963522638194263" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poems and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.</span></span></b><br /><br />

The Tattooed Poets Project: Kevin Patrick Lee

Our next tattooed poet is Kevin Patrick Lee, who had initially expressed an interest last year in our project, but we had to wait for 2013 t...

Read more »