The Tattooed Poets Project: Lea Banks

Today's tattooed poet is <a href="http://www.leabanks.com/">Lea Banks</a><b>.</b><span><br /><br />Lea sent along several photos of her work, so let's not waste any time checking out her ink.<br /><br />Descriptions from Lea follow each photo.<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iO-GO-QEJ-dZ8FaiW75rVLaVGOjmmji3chR71BM3Bjf9hVJrhDCsBr4WFnkBao3RE5mo5G2X8TJQMgyRlwsAvXR3url7waGV4v2uuSJjWsKY2lzoz5Vb-uIjK5V7nk92ZChkScMO/s1600/Vita+Nuova.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459924022208364418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iO-GO-QEJ-dZ8FaiW75rVLaVGOjmmji3chR71BM3Bjf9hVJrhDCsBr4WFnkBao3RE5mo5G2X8TJQMgyRlwsAvXR3url7waGV4v2uuSJjWsKY2lzoz5Vb-uIjK5V7nk92ZChkScMO/s400/Vita+Nuova.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><span style=";font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><blockquote><span style=";font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;" >"Vita Nuova" was the first tattoo celebrating my divorce, my new life. I was deep into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighieri">Dante</a>, especially the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatorio">Purgatorio</a>. I had read three translations and was taking a break when someone gave me <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Vita_Nuova"><i>La Vita Nuova</i></a>. The thirty poems fascinated me --- they were so personal, an autobiographical narrative in which Dante wove a web of romance and emotion. Such spiritual inspiration was integral at that time! I was interspersing Dante with <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155">Emily Dickinson</a> then and I had the same artist at <a href="http://www.momstattoostudio.com/">Mom’s Tattoo Studio</a> in Keene, NH do the tattoo on my right shoulder. You know … “<a href="http://nongae.gsnu.ac.kr/%7Esongmu/Poetry/TellAllTheTruthButTEllItSlant.htm">Tell all the truth but tell it slant</a>.” I still felt I was contained lightning from the wreckage of my marriage; wanting to tell the truth in my poetry but having a hard time with it. So this was the design I came up with. I’m actually thinking of having the lightning go outside the circle … I am NOT contained anymore!</span></blockquote><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwxLimtoXBFqnHKeLIavz0Wb0hddZezW5DuBCl_VnjOnIdPt8MSmf1NaI7Tp61hfORb-YNci3x2w-oRqQZSwzhAgfTHsTW3ipA_HtOOpMayk9fQ6OD-7dLIxleM_IsEazd0wdvLGr/s1600/Truth.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459923917693088482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwxLimtoXBFqnHKeLIavz0Wb0hddZezW5DuBCl_VnjOnIdPt8MSmf1NaI7Tp61hfORb-YNci3x2w-oRqQZSwzhAgfTHsTW3ipA_HtOOpMayk9fQ6OD-7dLIxleM_IsEazd0wdvLGr/s400/Truth.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);font-family:AvantGarde Bk BT;font-size:180%;" ><b></b></span><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);font-family:AvantGarde Bk BT;font-size:180%;" ><b>Tell all the Truth but tell it slant</b></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);"><br /><br /> <i>Emily Dickinson</i><br /><br />Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---<br />Success in Cirrcuit lies<br />Too bright for our infirm Delight<br />The Truth's superb surprise<br />As Lightening to the Children eased<br />With explanation kind<br />The Truth must dazzle gradually<br />Or every man be blind---</span></blockquote></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabi2KXEO-IsJA84c0u1ZBZDR48Qu7JUJPbvVIOR5zi9JYwEzijTIEFadhnLd_gwfMjfzvccrTq0NNIr7pFghWUhZuiuTuXkW1ZNBvuHoj9S02XrnAUG7fdOOUWhYQi1wYFQxLDEbL/s1600/Fireflies.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459923785218892946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabi2KXEO-IsJA84c0u1ZBZDR48Qu7JUJPbvVIOR5zi9JYwEzijTIEFadhnLd_gwfMjfzvccrTq0NNIr7pFghWUhZuiuTuXkW1ZNBvuHoj9S02XrnAUG7fdOOUWhYQi1wYFQxLDEbL/s400/Fireflies.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" /></a><span style=";font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;" ></span><blockquote><span style=";font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;" >...Done in 2004, [this tattoo] was my version of a design from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells">Book of Kells</a>, an Irish manuscript containing the Four Gospels. My daughter and I were visiting England and were staying at a B&B in Glastonbury. One day, she decided to climb the green hill of the Tor, crowned with the tower dominating the town and the surrounding landscape. I had to sit it out because my foot was giving me trouble. My foot at that time had undergone four surgeries. I picked up a book showing illustrations from the Book of Kells. I dreamt of this dragonfly tattoo on the plane ride back and took my vision to a tattoo artist at <a href="http://national.citysearch.com/profile/34886053/brattleboro_vt/blackbear_tattoo_jewlery_co.html">Blackbear Tattoo & Jewelery Company</a> in Brattleboro, VT<i>.</i> I was very pleased with the result: three dragonflies facing different directions signifying healing movement for my foot. Although I had a fifth surgery, I started walking again and even running. I promised Sarah that we’d return and climb the Tor together.</span></blockquote><br />And my personal favorite...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh9lxdNXw3-IMXsScaddnqgt2qwrkfVIZ-C5-JX77v3yETaExC6CkXC7pfdO9CP7Yw0l18NDFmeKzXy3ZwgJQy9wMUIHTRY5igcDg4ndrWMjv_lZKTvNd2aFAGoRzMpuUsjFQVH__/s1600/Nothing+whips.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459923637206650722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh9lxdNXw3-IMXsScaddnqgt2qwrkfVIZ-C5-JX77v3yETaExC6CkXC7pfdO9CP7Yw0l18NDFmeKzXy3ZwgJQy9wMUIHTRY5igcDg4ndrWMjv_lZKTvNd2aFAGoRzMpuUsjFQVH__/s400/Nothing+whips.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><span style=";font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><blockquote><span style=";font-family:Calibri;font-size:100%;" >The fourth tattoo on my left bicep, done by <a href="http://www.myspace.com/pygmalionstattoo">Pygmalion’s Tattoo</a> in Greenfield, MA<i>,</i> is a quote by <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/119">William Carlos Williams</a>, “Nothing whips my blood like verse.” I had it done right before the <a href="http://www.awpwriter.org/conference/">AWP</a> conference in Chicago and bore it proudly. The whip that winds throughout the quote was a flourish done by the artist. I ran into a friend who was a W.C. Williams scholar and he said he had never heard it attributed it to Williams! I swear it was in a book or on the web and if anyone can tell me different, please do.</span> </blockquote>Good news, Lea, I found reference to it in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Letters-William-Williams-Reprint/dp/0811209342">The Selected Letters of William Carlos Williams</a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Letters-William-Williams-Reprint/dp/0811209342"> (1957)</a>.<br /><br />Please be sure to check out one of Lea's poems over on BillyBlog <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-lea-banks.html">here</a>.<b><br /></b><p><a href="http://www.leabanks.com/"><b>Lea Banks</b></a> lives in <st1:place>Western Massachusetts</st1:place>. She is the author of the chapbook <a href="http://www.leabanks.com/info.html"><i>All of Me</i></a>, (<a href="http://gingercatpress.net/">Booksmyth Press</a>, 2008). She was a finalist for <a href="http://www.praguesummer.com/content/view/4/18/">The Pavel Srut Fellowship</a> in <st1:city><st1:place>Prague</st1:place></st1:city> and had two poems nominated for the 2009 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushcart_Prize">Pushcart Prize</a>. Banks is the founder of the nationally-known <a href="http://collectedpoets.com/">Collected Poets Series</a> in <st1:place><st1:city>Shelburne Falls</st1:city>, <st1:state>MA</st1:state></st1:place> and editor of <i><a href="http://www.oscillationpoetry.com/">Oscillation: Poetry in Motion</a>. </i>She was the former poetry editor of The <i>Equinox</i> and editorial assistant for the <a href="http://www.webdelsol.com/Marlboro_Review/"><i>Marlboro Review</i></a>. She attended <a href="http://www.nec.edu/"><st1:place><st1:placename>New England</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>College</st1:placetype></st1:place>’s</a> MFA program, facilitated stroke survivors’ writing workshops, and is a full-time poet, community organizer, freelance editor and writer. Banks has published in several journals including <i><a href="http://www.poetrynw.org/">Poetry Northwest</a>, <a href="http://www.slipstreampress.org/">Slipstream</a></i>, <i>Diner, </i>and<i> <a href="http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejpdancingbear/apj.html">American Poetry Journal</a></i>. See more here: <a href="http://www.leabanks.com/" target="_blank">www.leabanks.com</a>.<br /></p><p>Thanks again to Lea for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!<br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Lea Banks

Today's tattooed poet is Lea Banks . Lea sent along several photos of her work, so let's not waste any time checking out her ink. De...

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