The Tattooed Poets Project: Carl Phillips

We're closing out this year's Tattooed Poets Project with <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/247">Carl Phillips</a>. I've had the pleasure, over the years, of meeting Carl and hearing him read on at least two different occasions at the <a href="http://www.newschool.edu/">New School</a> in Manhattan, in conjunction with the <a href="http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/">Best American Poetry</a> readings. Needless to say, when Carl agreed to participate, I was thrilled.<br /><br />Here's a photo of Carl's tattoo:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbHNacwKelObo1hglF4BLBWzSCO0q0RbepG2XrgYbT9HeVTCFEqCqoju0_6kCiMMQUzR3H29FLZ1HoXsFgPqSQFgoxgBtf6DPwvoTTiuvc7aGaPZvnGrCW1K26mEn-4N52_QeAo1HymnM/s503/photo+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbHNacwKelObo1hglF4BLBWzSCO0q0RbepG2XrgYbT9HeVTCFEqCqoju0_6kCiMMQUzR3H29FLZ1HoXsFgPqSQFgoxgBtf6DPwvoTTiuvc7aGaPZvnGrCW1K26mEn-4N52_QeAo1HymnM/s640/photo+(1).JPG" width="478" /></a></div><br />Carl explains:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"I got the tattoo after seeing a compass on a map in my copy of <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1853260088/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1853260088&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3EMoby%20Dick%20(Wordsworth%20Classics)%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1853260088%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">Moby Dick</a>. I chose not to include the N,S,W,E part, to suggest that I lack direction, though the compass itself suggests the desire for direction ... it's on my left upper arm. A guy named Barber did it, at a place here in St. Louis called <a href="http://ironagetattoo.com/wordpress/">Iron Age</a>."</blockquote>Carl pointed me to a few poems online that he said we could share here, and I chose this one:<br /><br /><b>Leda, After the Swan</b><br /><br />Perhaps,<br />in the exaggerated grace<br />of his weight<br />settling,<br /><br />the wings<br />raised, held in<br />strike-or-embrace<br />position,<br /><br />I recognized<br />something more<br />than swan, I can't say.<br /><br />There was just<br />this barely defined<br />shoulder, whose feathers<br />came away in my hands,<br /><br />and the bit of world<br />left beyond it, coming down<br /><br />to the heat-crippled field,<br /><br />ravens the precise color of<br />sorrow in good light, neither<br />black nor blue, like fallen<br />stitches upon it,<br /><br />and the hour forever,<br />it seemed, half-stepping<br />its way elsewhere--<br /><br />then<br />everything, I<br />remember, began<br />happening more quickly.<br /><br />~ ~ ~ <br /><br />You can hear Carl read the poem <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16180">here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/247">Carl Phillips</a> is the author of twelve books of poetry, most recently <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374261210/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0374261210&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESilverchest:%20Poems%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0374261210%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">Silverchest</a> (2013). He's a professor of English at <a href="http://english.artsci.wustl.edu/Carl_Phillips">Washington University</a> in St. Louis.<br /><br />Thanks to Carl for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project 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=0374261210" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Carl Phillips

We're closing out this year's Tattooed Poets Project with Carl Phillips . I've had the pleasure, over the years, of meeting Carl...

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