The Tattooed Poets Project: Alex Grant's Totemic Tattoos

<a href="http://www.redroom.com/author/alex-grant">Alex Grant</a> is one of the many writers I have met through Facebook via the poet <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/742">Dorianne Laux</a>. Originally from Scotland, he lives in North Carolina, and sent me the following photos of his tattoos:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxLRJyk_OwxPRSucmG-eA1_Z0G1k7O6PLt7OHsLN9oE_fTFkBZv0hr3SySJfeKUEFwrTusZpfbSs37bW5y_DxCP4T0LeGTafZoghMpoK7BhyphenhyphenQaPy4ZgpBZDDmb-jCwLU1a9ItcblZikow/s1600-h/ag+-+two+pieces.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314090875310084018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxLRJyk_OwxPRSucmG-eA1_Z0G1k7O6PLt7OHsLN9oE_fTFkBZv0hr3SySJfeKUEFwrTusZpfbSs37bW5y_DxCP4T0LeGTafZoghMpoK7BhyphenhyphenQaPy4ZgpBZDDmb-jCwLU1a9ItcblZikow/s400/ag+-+two+pieces.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />The top piece is “a variation on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_mythology">Celtic</a> totemic symbol …which…suggests totality - Sun, Moon, Stars and sky - and the celebration of all that implies...”.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjskLCIoHba3eLOTc1xarBp9Ug_fT9PzzN8eQHZRc_HEIJNUo2sjY-ipRbmrN8Lz5upLFA0ZSWoUS_VlrmAEsunsnuJ1KCkcoTBXE6rRLrGZRMe-WzvgXBdsFfITrtdlM3YNpWRqnv4GOty/s1600-h/ag+-+closeup+moon+star.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314090755388626594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjskLCIoHba3eLOTc1xarBp9Ug_fT9PzzN8eQHZRc_HEIJNUo2sjY-ipRbmrN8Lz5upLFA0ZSWoUS_VlrmAEsunsnuJ1KCkcoTBXE6rRLrGZRMe-WzvgXBdsFfITrtdlM3YNpWRqnv4GOty/s400/ag+-+closeup+moon+star.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 380px; height: 400px;" /></a><br />The banded tattoo below the Celtic piece is a series of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization">Mayan</a> totem symbols. He interprets them as representations of “the cycle of sleep (as in having no awareness), through awakening, through full consciousness”.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBprHifjV8sWQQs9qBBukg7m2lQYoS6DLpiRa1MSLMD2a6X51ZljKS6cqIwr9r1GPyUS5QjxLFxaaMlhFJPG8EcrcAOuXbIWZBAgo35J-_Etpck_f_WpTAgEt_PQ_XPhJ54fv9w9akDJz8/s1600-h/PDR_0812.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314091437117242546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBprHifjV8sWQQs9qBBukg7m2lQYoS6DLpiRa1MSLMD2a6X51ZljKS6cqIwr9r1GPyUS5QjxLFxaaMlhFJPG8EcrcAOuXbIWZBAgo35J-_Etpck_f_WpTAgEt_PQ_XPhJ54fv9w9akDJz8/s400/PDR_0812.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxwFcQCWtkkm7290QmnHMpTLxUxY_mBJ-bRk7z1UF5kinQfcRO7ZO1MKx_wy-NO2ZTFKdVPz2k7DCkOjb1QaBka7_f9QR1DiSZa1jTedPQHYpH6RNVNXeiqYEXPk9BR6jUH39SfOUGR0e/s1600-h/PDR_0811.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314091339474080210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxwFcQCWtkkm7290QmnHMpTLxUxY_mBJ-bRk7z1UF5kinQfcRO7ZO1MKx_wy-NO2ZTFKdVPz2k7DCkOjb1QaBka7_f9QR1DiSZa1jTedPQHYpH6RNVNXeiqYEXPk9BR6jUH39SfOUGR0e/s400/PDR_0811.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVLi-hVVqgE4GdlHZWGpFfRj_4xdcy7F6ORQOfr0wLpyQexRXM0rpxv40ZfD490cV4KA3lR8IrQt7UlGTmQ2vrQ1r_WT-TdmFBe1AYD9GFV3Bz4n1uPWzifWKR2WA_KUpMJ-Wyxlq4Jvv/s1600-h/PDR_0810.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314091226071743842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVLi-hVVqgE4GdlHZWGpFfRj_4xdcy7F6ORQOfr0wLpyQexRXM0rpxv40ZfD490cV4KA3lR8IrQt7UlGTmQ2vrQ1r_WT-TdmFBe1AYD9GFV3Bz4n1uPWzifWKR2WA_KUpMJ-Wyxlq4Jvv/s400/PDR_0810.JPG" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" /></a><br />These tattoos date back to the early 1990’s (circa 1994-1996) and were inked in Berkeley, California, at <a href="http://www.mrzebra.com/home.html">Zebra Tattoo & Body Piercing</a>.<br /><br />These are not the only tattoos Alex has He told me, “I have some others that I don't love so much - including some I did myself with a needle and ink at age 16!”<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Thanks to Alex for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!</span><br /><br />Please be sure to head on over to <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2009/01/normal-0-microsoftinternetexplorer4.html">BillyBlog</a> to read one of Alex's poems, or you can explore more of his work on his web page <a href="http://www.redroom.com/author/alex-grant">here</a>.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Alex Grant's Totemic Tattoos

Alex Grant is one of the many writers I have met through Facebook via the poet Dorianne Laux . Originally from Scotland, he lives in North ...

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