The Tattooed Poets Project: My First Tattoo

I'm going to be a greedy little poet/blogger today and share one of my tattoos (and a tattoo-themed <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2009/04/tattooed-poets-series-day-27-william.html">sestina</a> on BillyBlog). We're in our final week of National Poetry Month, and I thought it would be a good time to hop on the bandwagon.<br /><br />I was hoping to post a tattoo that I've recently had done, but the artist has respectfully requested that I wait to post it until after it has been fully completed.<br /><br />So we'll head back to 2003 and my first tattoo, on my right bicep:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_z3pRMLObddiZSr_avexx6Ywj8C3mc2GX5K_lCqECCAmBVeXyskW8ZySAec372GaIFwvUt9mxRgaBLPHZdN4UTJ-zvVd3uFm43Di6lqYvpLJdyqRJnKwJyMLElOW6BBBHZ5zguIGrhs/s1600-h/Lineka.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329077085506422722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_z3pRMLObddiZSr_avexx6Ywj8C3mc2GX5K_lCqECCAmBVeXyskW8ZySAec372GaIFwvUt9mxRgaBLPHZdN4UTJ-zvVd3uFm43Di6lqYvpLJdyqRJnKwJyMLElOW6BBBHZ5zguIGrhs/s400/Lineka.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />Back then, I was not so involved in tattooing, and I didn't really understand the process. I thought you just went to a shop, picked some flash, and had it inked. Had I known then what I know now, I may have approached the experience a little differently.<br /><br />The first tattoo is a representation of my oldest daughter, Jolee. She has a Hawaiian middle name, "Lineka," which one English-Hawaiian, Hawaiian-English dictionary told me means "lynx". Not that there are any lynx roaming around Honolulu, but she certainly has the personality and beauty of a lynx, and it just seemed right.<br /><br />A tattoo artist named "Sickie," who was working out of <a href="http://www.bodyartstudios.com/">Body Arts Studio</a> in Bay Ridge, took the flash, modified it by removing all the extraneous bamboo and other background art, and created this version of the wildcat.<br /><br />He was very proud of himself over the way the eyes came out. I tend to agree. They're pretty cool. Lest you think my younger daughter feel left out, she is also represented on me in the form of a tattoo, previously posted <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/07/keikikalani.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Thanks for indulging me. Now head on over to <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2009/04/tattooed-poets-series-day-27-william.html">BillyBlog</a> and read my <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2009/04/tattooed-poets-series-day-27-william.html">sestina</a>.

The Tattooed Poets Project: My First Tattoo

I'm going to be a greedy little poet/blogger today and share one of my tattoos (and a tattoo-themed sestina on BillyBlog). We're in...

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