The Tattooed Poets Project: Josh Fernandez

Our next tattooed poet is <a href="http://www.josh-fernandez.com/">Josh Fernandez</a>, who estimates he is about 40% covered. "At this rate," he says, "I'll probably end up with just my natural face and the rest covered in ink." I am grateful to the poet <a href="http://www.timkahl.com/">Tim Kahl</a>, who is un-inked, for sending me Josh's way.<br /><br />I'll let Josh explain his work:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"It took a long time to cast aside my lust for drugs that seemed to plague me all the way up until my 30s. Even then, it wasn't until I began writing for publications that I realized I actually had a purpose and a shot at life.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">After burning out on journalism, I began teaching writing at a community college. It’s a career job, something I've never had before. In retrospect, I guess journalism was almost a real job, but it’s the clown car of professions, packed to the brim with wacky but ultimately depressing characters (addicts, sociopaths, egomaniacs, loudmouths, etc.). I fit in quite well. Teaching, however, is a different world entirely. For the most part, you need to be a professional, which, to be honest, I don’t even know what that means. I’m not sure where I fit.<br /><br />While I’m no longer a drug-addled wanderer, I still consider myself unprofessional—still kind of a fuckup. I suppose I tattooed my body to keep myself separated from the non-fuckups. On my fingers are the words “OUT OF STEP” with a picture of a little black sheep (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Peacock-Tattoo-Parlor/157554380944064">Royal Peacock</a>, Sacramento, CA)...</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8hw5ZDGb3cIX7dZgIDqsJfJPKX0QNRbUN3M-usMFgCPpzTILP1XFgjv4Jx1RF0bARW8eiWermcbaJJVDuwVammhWPWP2IueB_aLMXSIcPshgXCci_H4XDyImYRybr0ctJqxN4GJF3ow/s615/Minor+Threat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo8hw5ZDGb3cIX7dZgIDqsJfJPKX0QNRbUN3M-usMFgCPpzTILP1XFgjv4Jx1RF0bARW8eiWermcbaJJVDuwVammhWPWP2IueB_aLMXSIcPshgXCci_H4XDyImYRybr0ctJqxN4GJF3ow/s320/Minor+Threat.png" width="239" /></a></div></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">... a tribute to the hardcore band <a href="http://minorthreat.com/">Minor Threat</a>—an indicator of my place in society. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">On my hand is a cartoon version of my cat Loki, the chief of our house (<a href="http://www.vermininkandpaint.com/">Char Hall</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SideShowStudiosFan">Sideshow Studios</a>, Sacramento, CA):</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jYo-7NXhXGom4QGLv8quY1yUhhT69LmmBGNRCcV5md6oIuKepf7KOc_sTeD0BaN59TCeynASYKFwkp7MDnQvaobBGC6ZbcuCktSvfVk7IzCsB7oh3Y0g0LrCWot6JpZ_Anr4s-KFjxE/s615/Loki.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jYo-7NXhXGom4QGLv8quY1yUhhT69LmmBGNRCcV5md6oIuKepf7KOc_sTeD0BaN59TCeynASYKFwkp7MDnQvaobBGC6ZbcuCktSvfVk7IzCsB7oh3Y0g0LrCWot6JpZ_Anr4s-KFjxE/s640/Loki.png" width="542" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">On my inner calf is a portrait of <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155">Emily Dickinson</a> (<a href="http://www.capitalinktattoo.com/beau-mccoy.html">Beau McCoy</a>, <a href="http://www.capitalinktattoo.com/">Capital Ink Tattoo</a>, Sacramento, CA), a fearless writer who I believe to be one of the original punk rockers.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTVUNIh8Km8fC060hiKBthRfnBoKwU0EWYEm_tjIDX3tm9KNhttw14cOzwTwIS0isSJgcRrIp6cCxWswYqFyJ4zDrID-yFVl-2avb4q1Vq-hvVgwpk8BnTXJw064pPWY-QAS7ktop2Ck/s615/Dickinson.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXTVUNIh8Km8fC060hiKBthRfnBoKwU0EWYEm_tjIDX3tm9KNhttw14cOzwTwIS0isSJgcRrIp6cCxWswYqFyJ4zDrID-yFVl-2avb4q1Vq-hvVgwpk8BnTXJw064pPWY-QAS7ktop2Ck/s640/Dickinson.png" width="390" /></a></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">And on my forearm is a typewriter (<a href="http://www.tattoo13oakland.com/">Lucky 13</a>, Oakland, CA), a reminder that I have approximately one skill.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhv9MRAQlLU4dWfSDXrVJKh4yqv4I1UJQ07tjTHF58iDnHvdw8_f3s_kGkeZoVK4oIKcVRsD6KK-WaYBUcv1XCX1U4buh4p4unXWfsQNToQqGC2ST2TKDyFieu8ZZEOlFHm_F9Q_kf4gI/s615/Typewriter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhv9MRAQlLU4dWfSDXrVJKh4yqv4I1UJQ07tjTHF58iDnHvdw8_f3s_kGkeZoVK4oIKcVRsD6KK-WaYBUcv1XCX1U4buh4p4unXWfsQNToQqGC2ST2TKDyFieu8ZZEOlFHm_F9Q_kf4gI/s400/Typewriter.png" width="280" /></a></div><br />It's not often we get to share tattoos inspired by Emily Dickinson and a punk rock band in the same breath, so we were happy to post everything Josh sent our way.<br /><br />Josh also sent us several poems and I picked two.<br /><br /><b>The Addict</b><br /><br />He takes root<br />—feet, planted<br />firmly in the soil , kneeling<br />against the Earth,<br />banging until his fists<br />bloom<br />into tulips.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I really liked this longer poem, which appeared originally in <i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972295852/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0972295852&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESpare%20Parts%20and%20Dismemberment%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0972295852%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">Spare Parts and Dismemberment</a> (</i><a href="http://rlcrow.com/">R.L. Crow Publications</a>, 2011):<br /><br /><b>The Last Thing He Said</b><br /><br />“Be proud because we’re Mexicans,<br />and if they <br />don’t like it, just turn <br />your head and walk away.<br />If you haven’t noticed, mijo,<br />this world goes on<br />in every goddamn direction<br />whether you want it to<br />or not.” <br />And just like that <br />he was gone<br />—a trail of weed smoke and wisdom,<br />wagging into the horizon.<br /><br />And to this day, a scruffy <br />cholo with brown <br />skin and a bad leg <br />limps past<br />and my eyes sliver <br />like closed doors and I have to sit <br />down for a second—thoughts <br />rushing past, like speeding trains <br />in the night. <br /><br />It’s almost too much <br />to think of the gristly days,<br />that bus ride from Sacramento <br />to Boston where I sat, tweaked out,<br />for a week on a Greyhound,<br />too wired and poor to eat. <br />He waited at the station<br />for seven days with two black eyes,<br />a set of brass knuckles<br />and a warrant for his arrest.<br /><br />It’s too much to think <br />about when grandma<br />asked him to recite a prayer<br />and for the first time in 20 years<br />he put down his glass <br />and cried the way Mexicans do<br />when they find out there is <br />no God:<br /><br />Creo en el Espíritu Santo, <br />en la Santa Iglesia Católica,<br />la comunión de los Santos,<br />en el perdon de los pecados,<br />la resurrección de los muertos <br />y la vida eterna.<br /><br />And after that we wiped away<br />our tears, forgot how to speak Spanish<br />and got drunker<br />than we’d ever been,<br />spilling out of that <br />East Los apartment<br />into the world<br />like masses of hot lava<br />burning up our livers <br />till the frustrated sun <br />tucked itself <br />into the cool bed of morning. <br /><br />A life full of discarded things<br />is what we were given. Humans,<br />like old bibles, lie <br />tattered, dirty and useless.<br />I wonder what he is doing now<br />My father, the broken schitzo<br />who wore his sickness like <br />a neon coat.<br /><br />Walking through this shithole <br />of a city, <br />Nina Simone ripping<br />my heart out<br />through an old pair of headphones,<br />I watch a dirty black mutt<br />sitting in a junk yard <br />so stupid in his world <br />of chain link and bone scraps, <br />rags and old iron.<br /><br />If you were here I’d tell you I miss you<br />and that there’s not much news <br />save for a funny headline <br />telling us about some frumpy <br />rube in Arkansas who found <br />Mother Theresa’s tit <br />poking out of her pancake. <br />And, in this way, unwise and reckless, without you <br />unholy father,<br />if you haven’t noticed,<br />this world goes on in every goddamn direction, <br />whether you want it to<br />or not.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br /><a href="http://www.josh-fernandez.com/">Josh Fernandez</a> was born in Denver, raised in Boston and now lives and works in Midtown Sacramento. He writes for <a href="http://www.spin.com/">Spin</a>, <a href="http://www.boulderweekly.com/">Boulder Weekly</a>, <a href="http://sacurrent.com/">San Antonio Current</a>, and the <a href="http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/home">Sacramento News & Review</a> and teaches writing at <a href="http://www.scc.losrios.edu/">Sacramento City College</a>. He was nominated for a <a href="http://www.pushcartprize.com/">Pushcart Prize</a> in 2011. Fernandez’s first, full-length collection of poems, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0972295852/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0972295852&linkCode=as2&tag=bill03-20%22%3ESpare%20Parts%20and%20Dismemberment%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0972295852%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">Spare Parts and Dismemberment</a>, is available from <a href="http://rlcrow.com/">R.L. Crow Publications</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMd2svdQfYECRx3-SRApUtWVbcMPw8GJKF8ZPKcbcfeDzn77Eetp5ykQZIca7UbZDkaLPn0HAJT3DUvSNaLyWrZofMQRmBRqou9SwEkOXBilEietu159slx9f15OAXkUD5ZTLA65ElbAE/s1600/Spare+Parts+and+Dismemberment.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMd2svdQfYECRx3-SRApUtWVbcMPw8GJKF8ZPKcbcfeDzn77Eetp5ykQZIca7UbZDkaLPn0HAJT3DUvSNaLyWrZofMQRmBRqou9SwEkOXBilEietu159slx9f15OAXkUD5ZTLA65ElbAE/s400/Spare+Parts+and+Dismemberment.JPG" width="271" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Josh for sharing his tattoos and poetry with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.4993943637236953" 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 poems and tattoos 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>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Josh Fernandez

Our next tattooed poet is Josh Fernandez , who estimates he is about 40% covered. "At this rate," he says, "I'll probably...

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