The Tattooed Poets Project: Alex Dryden

Today's tattooed poet, Alex Dryden, shared his body art with us, displaying what to many poets, and fans of poetry, is a universal image:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhirxpD5AaYjZi4KdCkSjQzGJPeBxR_8q8_8TSli7aQSu-Pm-M7CX3XPus6QCVsNYb36_wXOHiU9I22a1g-yW2lxLhh8DLaJEwDHI8UAEKz7BBUiemOSE8TdekN-HmelmFak20zftgEFd4/s1600/red+wheelbarrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhirxpD5AaYjZi4KdCkSjQzGJPeBxR_8q8_8TSli7aQSu-Pm-M7CX3XPus6QCVsNYb36_wXOHiU9I22a1g-yW2lxLhh8DLaJEwDHI8UAEKz7BBUiemOSE8TdekN-HmelmFak20zftgEFd4/s640/red+wheelbarrow.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><br />That is, of course, a red wheelbarrow, a common item made famous by <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/119">William Carlos Williams</a>' iconic poem:<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Wheelbarrow">The Red Wheelbarrow</a><br /><br /><i>so much depends </i><br /><i>upon </i><br /><i><br /></i><br /><i>a red wheel </i><br /><i>barrow </i><br /><i><br /></i><br /><i>glazed with rain </i><br /><i>water </i><br /><i><br /></i><br /><i>beside the white </i><br /><i>chickens. </i><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div>Alex elaborates:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"When we were kids, my mother made my brother and me memorize and recite poems. Though we didn't talk about it until we were adults, we were both stricken by the authority and presence of 'The Red Wheelbarrow.' </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">For years we had thought about getting tattoos that worked together as a set but had never found a suitable subject. In 2010, he went back to school as English major while I was entering the first year of my MFA in creative writing. While visiting over the winter break and planning our mother's 60th birthday party, talk came around to the poems we memorized a kids and renewed our efforts to find a good set of tattoos. 'The Red Wheelbarrow,' with two perfect, ready made images, solved our dilemma. That night we drew up a pair of white chickens for him and a red wheelbarrow for me and the next day had them done. </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Because Williams made use of the rhythm and diction of the American vernacular, we choose a local tattoo parlor that seemed analogous. The website for <a href="http://hellbombtattoo.blogspot.com/">Hell Bomb Tattoo</a>, in Wichita, KS, displayed an index of, what we imagined to be, classic Mid-Western tattoo art." </blockquote>I asked Alex if he could send along his brother’s tattoo, as well, and he happily obliged:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaOH0g_r8Jo6nZ70qvWZsd156_3w2IGdNZIdv1lVSe5rfzNo11zeNTgKpPffWz3GNemxvBVpDDad4nhhEvOQA1PxtbAMK9ZOgKaAQBCV32A4RDHYT7ZCy_BWvxpjkEJY5FPsfDI4Vyaxw/s1600/white+chickens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaOH0g_r8Jo6nZ70qvWZsd156_3w2IGdNZIdv1lVSe5rfzNo11zeNTgKpPffWz3GNemxvBVpDDad4nhhEvOQA1PxtbAMK9ZOgKaAQBCV32A4RDHYT7ZCy_BWvxpjkEJY5FPsfDI4Vyaxw/s400/white+chickens.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><br />And a shot of them together: <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMZ3Q_NUZzNJO5B7_urU02CK26BK7i9PU8BFFchV4r3iJcO__JAucONT1BrgSyzZHD4Ul2imkSewCT-EZv5gCJW6RkCa99Maoz5IST92GL0CcwnLDKI7GueBd7i7H90H3TPrUhcKgrwk/s1600/dryden+both.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMZ3Q_NUZzNJO5B7_urU02CK26BK7i9PU8BFFchV4r3iJcO__JAucONT1BrgSyzZHD4Ul2imkSewCT-EZv5gCJW6RkCa99Maoz5IST92GL0CcwnLDKI7GueBd7i7H90H3TPrUhcKgrwk/s400/dryden+both.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />As for verse, Alex shared this poem:<br /><br /><i>Corpus </i><br /><br />—she was the kind of girl<br />you suspected<br /><br />had something really sweet<br />written in<br /><br />the braille of her<br />bikini line.<br /><br />Something about flowers or<br />the uselessness<br /><br />of melancholy and how good<br />things happen<br /><br />to those who wait politely and say please. So,<br />I checked.<br /><br />“Thanks,” it said. It was damp and difficult<br />to read.<br /><br /> “I haven’t been fucked like that since I was an<br />alter boy.<br /><br />Thanks.”  It was the second “thanks” that really<br />threw me.<br /><br />When she woke, she smiled politely<br />I made<br /><br />coffee politely and made my face look<br />sensible and clean.<br /><br />I haven’t checked since. I don’t even read her e-<br />mail anymore.<br /><br />Once, I held the door open for her mother, she said<br />thank you<br /><br />and I stammered “sorry” pretty loud. It was really the second “thanks”<br />that threw me.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><br />Alex Dryden is a MFA candidate in Poetry at <a href="http://www.newschool.edu/">The New School</a>. His work was most recently published on <a href="http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2012/02/dear-by-alex-dryden.html">The Best American Poetry blog</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Alex for this contribution to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission. </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><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: Alex Dryden

Today's tattooed poet, Alex Dryden, shared his body art with us, displaying what to many poets, and fans of poetry, is a universal image...

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