The Tattooed Poets Project: Jim Elledge

Our next tattooed poet is Jim Elledge, who sent us this snapshot:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj81yhnT9Sy4qATLtfdswYdNStWGXb4Z6RS4XHts6f2g7XUZ5D1N71qxy6UNU9dQxJ5l_8qDy2pvdNYYFKWNHWnXg7vKWc2VKKu9zYK3QEZOpbWCx-yypcPQFaTcPko3q6bPqZNKmB2Yh0/s400/Elledge+Tattoo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj81yhnT9Sy4qATLtfdswYdNStWGXb4Z6RS4XHts6f2g7XUZ5D1N71qxy6UNU9dQxJ5l_8qDy2pvdNYYFKWNHWnXg7vKWc2VKKu9zYK3QEZOpbWCx-yypcPQFaTcPko3q6bPqZNKmB2Yh0/s400/Elledge+Tattoo.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Jim explains how he came to get this tattoo:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"Several years ago, my partner and I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico on vacation and fell in love with it. The following summer, we bought an apartment in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan, and if all goes well, we’ll be moving there to live permanently in three years. One day at the <a href="http://www.mapr.org/">Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico</a>, I found a petroglyph of the Taíno sun deity. (The Taínos  were the indigenous people of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands who were thriving before Columbus’ arrival.) As soon as I saw the petroglyph, I knew I wanted it as a tattoo, and before leaving the island, I went to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Harisumi-Tattoo-Parlor/149093801777950">Harisumi Tattoo Parlor & Body Piercing</a> on Avenida Ashford and had it done. Although I was a little concerned about being accused of appropriating Puerto Rican/Taíno culture, which, I have to admit, I did, I’m constantly stopped on the street or the beach by Puerto Ricans who tell me how wonderful the tattoo is."</blockquote>Jim sent us the following poem:<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"><st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;">Now</span></b></st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;"> You </span></b><st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;">See</span></b></st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;"> Mister.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"><st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;">Now</span></b></st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;"> You </span></b><st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;">Don</span></b></st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; font-variant: small-caps;">’t.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"><i>Tick-tock</i>: Night limps by, and the martini </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">Mister stirred twelve full seconds reflects him—</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">tight, not drowned. Hours before, the key lime </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">pie made him pucker, the cheap Chianti </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">made him woozy, the waiter made him hard, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">getting wood made him feel visible—but </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">to himself, not to God, who’s so blissed out</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">a sparrow distracts Him. (Mister knocked loud!) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">And Satan’s so fixated on cheap tricks,</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">he’s absent, too. Faithful and heretic, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">poor Mister punches the Reaper’s time clock,</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">gnaws bones and laps booze as the bright oceans  </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">slap continents, and paces while <i>tick-tocks</i> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;">multiply. Then he passes out undone.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.5in;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Jim Elledge’s <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590212509/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1590212509&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EH%20(poems)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1590212509%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">H</a>, a collection of prose poems, was issued by <a href="http://lethepressbooks.com/">Lethe Press</a> in 2012, and his <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0932616801/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0932616801&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EA%20History%20of%20My%20Tattoo%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0932616801%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">A History of My Tattoo: A Poem</a> won the <a href="http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/">Lambda Literary Award</a> in 2006. His poems have appeared in many journals, including <a href="http://www.barrowstreet.org/journal.html">Barrow Street</a>, <a href="http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review/">Chicago Review</a>, <a href="http://www.denverquarterly.com/">Denver Quarterly</a>, <a href="http://asu.edu/piper/publications/haydensferryreview/">Hayden’s Ferry Review</a>, <a href="http://hotelamerika.net/">Hotel Amerika</a>, <a href="http://indianareview.org/">Indiana Review</a>, <a href="http://www.northamericanreview.org/">North American Review</a>, <a href="http://www.theparisreview.org/">Paris Review</a>. His <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590208552/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1590208552&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EHenry%20Darger,%20Throw%20Away%20Boy:%20The%20Tragic%20Life%20of%20an%20Outsider%20Artist%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1590208552%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">Henry Darger, Throw-Away Boy: The Tragic Life of an Outsider Artist</a> is forthcoming in July 2013 from Overlook Press. <br /><br />Thanks to Jim for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here 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=0932616801" 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=1590212509" 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=1590208552" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.963465241715312" 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></div><br /><br />

The Tattooed Poets Project: Jim Elledge

Our next tattooed poet is Jim Elledge, who sent us this snapshot: Jim explains how he came to get this tattoo: "Several years ago, my p...

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