A New Tattoo on Friday the 13th, or, the Templar of My Familiar

<br /><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">People familiar with Tattoosday have seen my Friday the 13th tattoo posts. Melanie has two and I have one, and I remember watching enviously when she got her first (<a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/03/friday-13th-tattoosday-adventure.html">here</a>), but it was her birthday, so it didn't make sense for me to get one then.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Someone commented on the site back then that I should check out <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/">Three Kings Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn, that we wouldn't have to have to wait all day like at <a href="http://www.daredeviltattoo.com/">Dare Devil</a>, but when the next opportunity came along, we were already looking at <a href="http://handofglorytattoo.com/">Hand of Glory</a>, which was a little closer to home. </div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This past January, we missed our chance and as our turned out, HOG was packed and a late arrival would have been for naught.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But there are three Friday the Thirteenths this year, and in April, I called Three Kings. "Sorry," I was told, "we're not doing it this month." <i>Well</i>, I thought, <i>there's always July</i>.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">However, it didn't look good for July. My company is closing and as head of Human Resources, I have been coordinating and overseeing layoffs. We had twenty separations scheduled for Friday the Thirteenth.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I didn't want to wait until next May, so I reached out to <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/artistpage.php?artistid=9&picid=1235&page=1">Alex Mcwatt</a> at Three Kings to see if maybe they could squeeze me in. Not really following the first-come first-served rule, but I thought having showed his work on Tattoosday before (<a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2012/06/remembering-king-of-pop-three-years.html">here</a>, <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2012/06/blaise-unique-sugar-skull.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/04/tattooed-poets-project-meredith-ss.html">here</a>) and showcasing a lot of work from  the other amazingly talented artists at the shop (a full history <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Three%20Kings%20Tattoo">here</a>), he might consider it. The worst he could do was say no, right?</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Alex promptly replied, but he had an unexpected response. My heart sank when he told me they were no longer doing the event. However, he did say he would tattoo me with a piece of old flash if I wanted, just without the Friday the Thirteenth mayhem.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I was, as you might imagine, completely stoked. I got why they decided to stop doing the event. most likely why Hand of Glory also skipped this month as well. Its a great deal if you want a cheap tattoo experience, but who can blame artists for tiring quickly of people wanting cheap experiences? Especially when many of the people getting these novelty items were not always loyal customers, but merely bargain hunters who would only show up once or twice a year to zip in, zip out, and that was that. I totally got it.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It just so happened we were in the neighborhood last Sunday, so Melanie and I stopped in to meet Alex and nail down the details. We confirmed I'd come in on Friday, after a brutal day of work, and I'd pick something off the walls. I had also invited Alex to draw up something new, if he wanted, and that I would be very open and receptive to it, as long as it didn't "gross out my daughters or piss off my wife".</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I had once been told by someone I once interviewed that he liked to go into a shop, ask an artist what they were drawing, and ask for that to be tattooed on them, if he dug the art. The concept is, an artist will be much more excited about doing something new and fresh than doing something they modified or have done before. The more enthusiastic the artist is about the design, I believe, the more care and passion they'll put into their work. That's not to say they'll do a poor job on an old piece, but they'll be happier doing something more interesting, and that can only positively impact the final product.</div><div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So, I arrived on schedule Friday and Alex showed me something new he has drawn up, a profile of a knight in armor. Way cool. I love the image and I immediately started relating to it. My name, "William," has etymological roots in Europe and derives from Wilhelm, which is a compound of will (or desire) and helm (protection).</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I had also been doing some work earlier in the week, looking at my family ancestry on my mother's side. I descend from Englishmen on one branch of the family tree and the Scottish clan Graham on another branch. The design, which he had only recently drawn up resonated with me. When I told Alex this, he nodded and said, "it was in the ether".</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">From his perspective, when they had been toying with the idea of doing more Friday the 13th flash, Alex said he had been considering drawing from Masonic and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templar">Knights Templar</a>. There's a lot of 13 imagery in those deep mysterious traditions, and back in 1307, there was even an infamous event when a French king had many of the knights arrested on Friday, October 13. See the 13's in the date? I am oversimplifying here, but these arrests led to a wave of anti-templar frenzy in Europe and in the Catholic Church. Many of these knights were tortured and executed, and that initial date of Friday the 13th has often been cited as one of the earliest example of the superstition surrounding the unlucky thirteenth day.</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But, I digress. Let's cut to the chase. Alex did a phenomenal job:</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTEjex7IP6akQ1wqT7XymP_IQpfsTLKuBg0LsjJjQwGAEl1mjezguEeYxSOVixRsY-lbSeza5tSUp2v0NXFeCq9MYECBduqrgixK5SYsESmI4NsZLSDYtc_meOQ5wI4tbMbmJGPJrlV8/s615/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTEjex7IP6akQ1wqT7XymP_IQpfsTLKuBg0LsjJjQwGAEl1mjezguEeYxSOVixRsY-lbSeza5tSUp2v0NXFeCq9MYECBduqrgixK5SYsESmI4NsZLSDYtc_meOQ5wI4tbMbmJGPJrlV8/s640/photo.jpg" width="402" /></a></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is just above my right ankle, on the outer side of my leg. The lines and shading are brilliant. The photo above was taken by Alex on my Samsung Galaxy IIs, so it is still a little bloody, but you can see what a great job he did. </span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I also got the opportunity to further support the shop by purchasing t-shirts for me and Melanie - it was her consolation for not getting new Friday the 13th ink.</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I got this classic <a href="http://www.danieltrocchio.com/">Dan Trochio</a>-designed tee:</span></div><div><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></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="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/shopimages/trocchionew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/shopimages/trocchionew.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo courtesy of Three Kings Tattoo (that's not me modeling)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">and I got Melanie this cool new shirt designed by <a href="http://joshegnew.com/home.html">Josh Egnew</a>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></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="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/shopimages/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/shopimages/photo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo courtesy of Three Kings Tattoo (that's not Melanie modeling)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can check out a lot of other cool merchandise at the shop <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/shop.php">here</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I found the shop clean, friendly, and I saw some amazing work being done. The line-up of artists in house is one of the most talented groups in New York City. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend Three Kings to anyone looking for great custom work in Brooklyn.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart, to Alex McWatt, for making this an awesome Friday the Thirteenth to remember!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.09646353987045586" style="font-weight: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are reading 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/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; 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>

A New Tattoo on Friday the 13th, or, the Templar of My Familiar

People familiar with Tattoosday have seen my Friday the 13th tattoo posts. Melanie has two and I have one, and I remember watching enviously...

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Remembering the King of Pop, Three Years Later

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6RG2d8EwnyqeC1QeLoYdFbikpK-AgZud_FDWLMhawBDs-cokQC2DirMGW9BN3GEntHSeSRG-OXHKuI2AmI3RNfBMhk3lfcqsrsLGWlL4fjZdhX44uaNuOGdUcOUfZQd5fVw5EnFcjpHc/s0-d/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6RG2d8EwnyqeC1QeLoYdFbikpK-AgZud_FDWLMhawBDs-cokQC2DirMGW9BN3GEntHSeSRG-OXHKuI2AmI3RNfBMhk3lfcqsrsLGWlL4fjZdhX44uaNuOGdUcOUfZQd5fVw5EnFcjpHc/s0-d/photo.jpg" width="332" /></a></div><br />It's hard to believe that it has been three years since <a href="http://bad25.michaeljackson.com/">Michael Jackson's</a> tragic passing. It only seems fitting that we pay our respects by sharing this tattoo, which illustrates the King of Pop in one of his most famous incarnations: a zombie in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson%27s_Thriller">Michael Jackson's Thriller</a>.</i><br /><br />This piece belongs to Bjorn, who I met earlier this month, out on the Coney Island boardwalk.<br /><br />The tattoo is inked by <a href="http://www.alexmcwatt.com/">Alex McWatt</a> at <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/index.php">Three Kings Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn. It was part of one of their Friday the 13th tattoo extravaganzas.<br /><br />Thanks to Bjorn for sharing this timely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br />And just because it is such a timeless video, here is <i>Michael Jackson's Thriller</i>:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">  <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sOnqjkJTMaA" width="500"></iframe></div><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7953263609670103" style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. The video is </span></span></b><span style="background-color: #ebebeb; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">(C) 1982 MJJ Productions Inc.</span><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7953263609670103" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; 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="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; 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>

Remembering the King of Pop, Three Years Later

It's hard to believe that it has been three years since Michael Jackson's tragic passing. It only seems fitting that we pay our res...

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Blaise & A Unique Sugar Skull

I met Blaise on a sunny spring day near the corner of 8th Avenue and 33rd Street.<br /><br />He has a lot of ink, the majority of which was tattooed by <a href="http://www.alexmcwatt.com/">Alex McWatt</a> of <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/site/">Three Kings Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIw7IAPfn0TqeiR8pWiajM7wg3PRvn8_lBQ1m-Wy-suLBTWFVGXfymdN9MdIgwQFfsv4od9hFjsSALjjKhBhz2wcoR-L0nEFNAuuy4dWNrpMIZr81zjk_oA_I_h7xbcbvCKDV74kL42c/s614/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIw7IAPfn0TqeiR8pWiajM7wg3PRvn8_lBQ1m-Wy-suLBTWFVGXfymdN9MdIgwQFfsv4od9hFjsSALjjKhBhz2wcoR-L0nEFNAuuy4dWNrpMIZr81zjk_oA_I_h7xbcbvCKDV74kL42c/s640/photo.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br />Blaise pointed out the sugar skull in the center of his arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlPD8JMoeruhCge4-6J7FJulF8Eui92FEV5QmmgdxWLN1UrN8I2rInOwVbMeFGu5mFGEfkMr_4mrNOptTm-gQofYvCb8xxKSGjIZhVzSdY5JQRBfJd4ErJjrHD_2Sq4GQQvfMlx8gA30/s614/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlPD8JMoeruhCge4-6J7FJulF8Eui92FEV5QmmgdxWLN1UrN8I2rInOwVbMeFGu5mFGEfkMr_4mrNOptTm-gQofYvCb8xxKSGjIZhVzSdY5JQRBfJd4ErJjrHD_2Sq4GQQvfMlx8gA30/s640/photo.jpg" width="322" /></a></div><br />This is a sugar skull with a twist - note the rainbow  spilling forth from the jaw and, in case you can't tell from the photo, that's a shark riding the rainbow wave.<br /><br />Blaise singled this out because the tattoo was conceived in partnership with his little sister. It refers to a project they had done together.<br /><br />Thanks to Blaise for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><b id="internal-source-marker_0.6790644251741469" 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 ©2012 Tattoosday.</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: black; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><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>

Blaise & A Unique Sugar Skull

I met Blaise on a sunny spring day near the corner of 8th Avenue and 33rd Street. He has a lot of ink, the majority of which was tattooed by...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Meredith S's Interpretation of a Russian Prison Tattoo

As the end of National Poetry Month approaches, I find myself in an enviable position: too many poets' tattoos, too few days. So, I've decided to "double up" and make today a "Two for Tattoosday". I have also realized that this Tattooed Poets Series will have to continue, in one form or another, above and beyond National Poetry Month. Stay tuned for more details.<br /><br />In the mean time, Meredith S., a poet from Brooklyn, sent in the following photo:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwps1cwJUmTZz8teQgi2sl9O1j6y3SmfSj9ECBOcQTrxUjlYYoItLCw_g7i3t-lkicNPJNzB1P4lpu1tcBqKDAcTdsMURmYloHgeW7Lbxx7tf2n7HsvYR6SVWQDf5UEtxfmp0O3i0dJsQ/s1600-h/Photo+54.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329675756465699330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwps1cwJUmTZz8teQgi2sl9O1j6y3SmfSj9ECBOcQTrxUjlYYoItLCw_g7i3t-lkicNPJNzB1P4lpu1tcBqKDAcTdsMURmYloHgeW7Lbxx7tf2n7HsvYR6SVWQDf5UEtxfmp0O3i0dJsQ/s400/Photo+54.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />I know, I know, you can't see the whole piece in that shot, but it's pretty cool, and you can get some detail on the sparrow. Here's a more traditional shot:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHS5dgP75JeC1qrgBhrALSaefz9ury76mVr0yDSC9S6FHTDjtHsdWVpkAVFhJ6rn7gFMZgq_-rNdEgHwFMkX9OK4AQEBlUZytDnJ3XOiPml5RH-Rf5JM0wWsaKzvDW2KQUea0LB7TV1Oc/s1600-h/DSCN1539.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328195042119832786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHS5dgP75JeC1qrgBhrALSaefz9ury76mVr0yDSC9S6FHTDjtHsdWVpkAVFhJ6rn7gFMZgq_-rNdEgHwFMkX9OK4AQEBlUZytDnJ3XOiPml5RH-Rf5JM0wWsaKzvDW2KQUea0LB7TV1Oc/s400/DSCN1539.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />Meredith explains:<br /><div></div><blockquote><div>"I happen to love tattoos as a intimately personal expression of ourselves...</div><div><br /></div><div>[This] ... is an interpretation of a Russian prison tattoo that families and lovers got when they were separated by prisons and Stalin's concentration camps. The tattoo is a traditional pair of swallows holding a three-piece banner with the Russian acronyms: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomsk" style="font-style: italic;">tomsk</a> (a city in Russia); <span style="font-style: italic;">vino</span> (wine); <span style="font-style: italic;">omyt </span>(whirlpool). The acronyms stand for: you alone have my heart; come back and stay forever; it is hard to leave me.<br /><br /><a href="http://alexmcwatt.com/">Alex McWatt</a> at <a href="http://www.threekingstattoo.com/">Three Kings Tattoo</a> did an amazing job at putting all the elements together. I decided to get this tattoo after losing most of my family members, but mainly after my mother, who is a drug addict, disappeared from my life 5 years ago." </div></blockquote><div></div><div>Meredith also submitted a poem about her mother that she composed after seeing a prison mugshot of her a couple of years ago. That poem is posted <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2009/04/tattooed-poets-series-day-28-part-2.html">here</a> on BillyBlog.<br /><br />Alex McWatt has had work appearing before on Tattoosday, <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/08/vickis-shamrock-tattoo.html">here</a>.</div>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Meredith S's Interpretation of a Russian Prison Tattoo

As the end of National Poetry Month approaches, I find myself in an enviable position: too many poets' tattoos, too few days. So, I'...

Read more »