The Tattooed Poets Project: Stephen Caratzas

Today's tattooed poet is Stephen Caratzas, who was sent our way via Jillian Brall, a tattooed poet who has appeared on the Tattooed Poets Project twice before (<a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/05/tattooed-poets-project-jillian-bralls.html">here</a> and <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-jillian-brall.html">here</a>).<br /><br />Stephen sent along this cool photo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSfv8yjb32TmzYA9e5B7OdIrEdIuUZnjbKrELzic6XMpKyPfpotUIHL1L10i33IeQxcNgwLKtsAu-lJs8TszpA6HcEMIQHXqk4EhRtfq39IQp_4S-izcLEOIxu0QZoAetOLAjUeTY2AyM/s1600/spc_despair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSfv8yjb32TmzYA9e5B7OdIrEdIuUZnjbKrELzic6XMpKyPfpotUIHL1L10i33IeQxcNgwLKtsAu-lJs8TszpA6HcEMIQHXqk4EhRtfq39IQp_4S-izcLEOIxu0QZoAetOLAjUeTY2AyM/s400/spc_despair.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The tattoo in question is on his wrist. For a closer look:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MqhsBLPOXv_3wSJRg3Hz9XUUy_1m3VxcHAloxoEWQdttTKFASodDOD6_ctgjLj1QtKkiitxU7T9UnTjdIFEcf_bHu2A7cbC-YJXCh1ZQsVWCEDv_F42CEWHa1pBrzmyrY-dYhcNo3C8/s1600/spc_despair+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MqhsBLPOXv_3wSJRg3Hz9XUUy_1m3VxcHAloxoEWQdttTKFASodDOD6_ctgjLj1QtKkiitxU7T9UnTjdIFEcf_bHu2A7cbC-YJXCh1ZQsVWCEDv_F42CEWHa1pBrzmyrY-dYhcNo3C8/s1600/spc_despair+detail.jpg" /></a></div><br />Stephen explains: <br /><br /><blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPi2Xgqh98VIm79Hm4VepwIL0xFLjxrWjER9psUOtwtzVmRoaHBAIYjeu00GmishNkeBsBCPkp2Zm0tUU4yMJa08Q9iRhR0Q2SmfJ6NoEXsrzmZz3tTAv-DkigD5Tpz5-nTNIvXqpyBSs/s1600/ohmss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPi2Xgqh98VIm79Hm4VepwIL0xFLjxrWjER9psUOtwtzVmRoaHBAIYjeu00GmishNkeBsBCPkp2Zm0tUU4yMJa08Q9iRhR0Q2SmfJ6NoEXsrzmZz3tTAv-DkigD5Tpz5-nTNIvXqpyBSs/s1600/ohmss.jpg" /></a>"The tattoo is a griffin, inspired by an image of a griffin holding a <a href="http://www.waltherpistols.com/category/41-Walther_PPK_Handguns.aspx">Walther</a> PPK automatic pistol on the cover of <a href="http://www.ianfleming.com/">Ian Fleming's</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Her_Majesty%27s_Secret_Service_%28novel%29">On Her Majesty's Secret Service</a>. The artist, whose first name was Mike - don't recall his last name - decided to make the gun into the griffin's paw, which I agreed was a sensible idea.<br /><br />I got the idea for a tattoo on the inside of my wrist from one of the characters (Casper, I believe) in <a href="http://www.larryclark.us/">Larry Clark's</a> film, <a href="http://www.larryclark.us/#kids"><i>Kids</i></a>. I liked the idea of having a visible tattoo even while wearing a long-sleeve dress shirt."</blockquote><br />The tattoo is among eight Stephen has, and was inked at <a href="http://funcitytattoo.com/">Fun City Tattoo</a> on Macdougal Street in Manhattan back in the late 1990s.<br /><br />Stephen sent us several poems, but I liked this one best:<br /><br /><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">THE NEW CORONERS</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">I never felt so good as when a waiter </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">in Amsterdam called me monsieur</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">after ordering beef champignon</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">putting his pen to his lips and looking off</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">“I believe monsieur has ordered the better dish”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">so then you ordered it too</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">in a place called De Oude Doelen</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">(the old aims the old targets the old goals)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">a drunk at the bar sang along with the jukebox</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">for years afterward I searched for the song</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">it wasn’t Elvis but it was sad</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">the song and the drunk and it was our last meal</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">when we two parted it was inevitable </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">it always is it always is</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~ </div><br />Stephen Caratzas is a writer, musician and visual artist living in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. His writing has been published in <a href="http://www.terraincognita.50megs.com/what.html#english"><span style="font-style: italic;">Terra Incognita</span></a>, <a href="http://threeroomspress.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Maintenant 5</span></a>, <a href="http://versemag.blogspot.com/2005/09/new-review-of-tiny.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">the tiny</span></a>, and many other journals.<br /><br />Thanks to Stephen for sending us his tattoo and poems! We here at Tattoosday are grateful for his contribution.<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Stephen Caratzas

Today's tattooed poet is Stephen Caratzas, who was sent our way via Jillian Brall, a tattooed poet who has appeared on the Tattooed Poet...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Mark Nickels

Today's tattoo comes to us from the poet Mark Nickels:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOEIZ9RduTzjIZPGDl9dpV6PflIDgN4A0jNuh24Z1dbOFMokEm8B0rMJyWw7EDIxeShau3xDYtX7O_0XsKclJQET7V-SeoXsx7a9f-ZwDiFuXe2Qxy-7_n7gmRaNb0eEpkMf0n8VV/s1600/lighter+cropped.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5455374280399601746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOEIZ9RduTzjIZPGDl9dpV6PflIDgN4A0jNuh24Z1dbOFMokEm8B0rMJyWw7EDIxeShau3xDYtX7O_0XsKclJQET7V-SeoXsx7a9f-ZwDiFuXe2Qxy-7_n7gmRaNb0eEpkMf0n8VV/s320/lighter+cropped.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 320px;" /></a><br />Mark explains:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"This tattoo dates from the end of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton">Clinton</a> era, I'm thinking 1997, 1998. It can't be true, but getting a tattoo feels like the last unmotivated thing I did. No regrets, I just can't remember exactly what it was all about. You forget about it and then glimpse it in your steamed bathroom mirror and think, Oh. Uh....freedom, or something like that...not so much the word as the feeling, sort of a lovely, aimless, Saturday morning feeling you don't recall having had lately."</blockquote> If I may interject, I love hearing things like this, because I often ask people about their tattoos, and they dismiss them, "Oh, well, it doesn't <span style="font-style: italic;">mean</span> anything," they often say, as if that somehow makes the tattoo less interesting. However, tattoos often <span style="font-style: italic;">symbolize </span>times, places, memories, or feelings, and Mark is able to capture that perfectly in his explanation of the tattoo.<br /><br />He continues:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">I was interested in medieval stuff at the time, especially medieval and Renaissance music, and found this griffin design in a book of </span><a href="http://store.doverpublications.com/" style="font-style: italic;">Dover</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> copyright-free medieval motifs. A very good artist at </span><a href="http://www.daredeviltattoo.com/" style="font-style: italic;">Dare Devil Tattoo</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> drew it freehand for practice, referencing the book, then started on my arm and tattoo'd' it straight off. It hasn't faded much, as you can see. I remember I asked for red and yellow, outlined in black, and that's exactly what she gave me. </span><br /></blockquote>Mark Nickels lives in New York City. His book Cicada was published by <a href="http://www.rattapallax.com/">Rattapallax Press</a> in 2000. He has won the <a href="http://www.romeart.org/poetry.html">Milton Dorfman Prize </a>(1996), the Ann Stafford Prize from <a href="http://www.usc.edu/">USC</a> (2002) and been a finalist and semi-finalist at <a href="http://www.bigcitylit.com/may2002/contents/LyRResultsNames.html">Lyric Recovery Festival</a> (<a href="http://www.carnegiehall.org/SiteCode/Intro.aspx">Carnegie Hall</a>). He is a 2006 <a href="http://www.nyfa.org/">New York State Arts Foundation Fellow</a> in fiction, and two poems from his 2o00 collection were recently selected for inclusion in the on-line archive of the <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/">Poetry Foundation</a> (aka <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/index.html" style="font-style: italic;">Poetry</a>).<br /><br />Thanks to Mark for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! Please be sure to check out one of his poems (one that mentions a griffin, too!) <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-mark-nickels.html">here</a> on BillyBlog!<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe 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=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=1892494221" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><br /><br /></div>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Mark Nickels

Today's tattoo comes to us from the poet Mark Nickels: Mark explains: "This tattoo dates from the end of the Clinton era, I'm ...

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