The Tattooed Poets Project: Alexandra Teague

Someone recently asked me where I find all of these tattooed poets. A great question, and I owe thanks to many people, for most individuals come by way of word-of-mouth from other poets. But I also reach out on my own, often sending dozens of e-mails to writers around the country, and the world. It's like shooting an arrow into the dark, one can only hope the missive strikes a target.<br /><br />I was recently poring over a copy of the anthology <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Daily-Essentials-2007-Selby/dp/1402209274">Poetry Daily Essentials 2007</a> and picking poets to e-mail. I stumbled across <a href="http://www.alexandrateague.com/">Alexandra Teague's</a> "<a href="http://www.cstone.net/%7Epoems/housetea.htm">House Guest</a>" and sent her my standard "ink-query." And sure enough, she became one of the few poets I wrote to out of the blue who replied because, not only is Ms. Teague tattooed, one of them is poetry-related. As she so aptly put it, "I sort of had to reply to you."<br /><br />Without further ado, here are Alexandra's tattoos:<br /><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">I was inspired to get the Japanese kanji for "poetry" after seeing a pin at the </span><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/index.html" style="font-style: italic;">Poetry Magazine</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> table at the </span><a href="http://www.awpwriter.org/" style="font-style: italic;">Association of Writers and Writing Programs</a><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> conference in 1999.<br /><br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkPvlGls1w1a9KBVUGMct0v0rR4Ujj-qJEhaIWj-m7LjHYsqpZrUEbb7l3WtZfGSLAW_apsGmao7YwCAnCFF4h6IXJt33jP9K5BXwjJrjuRDJNxCgeYOY4OeknPDFtBRCZtPrZO9v/s1600/TeagueTattoo1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461473164575534914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkPvlGls1w1a9KBVUGMct0v0rR4Ujj-qJEhaIWj-m7LjHYsqpZrUEbb7l3WtZfGSLAW_apsGmao7YwCAnCFF4h6IXJt33jP9K5BXwjJrjuRDJNxCgeYOY4OeknPDFtBRCZtPrZO9v/s400/TeagueTattoo1.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 303px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I'd been thinking about getting a tattoo and couldn't decide on a design, but as soon as I saw the kanji, I knew it was exactly right. I see it not only as a symbol of the art of poetry but also as a reminder to live poetically. I got the tattoo at a shop in Miami (I don't remember the name). I did a bit of research to confirm that the kanji was correct (since I don't know any Japanese), but I didn't have it really confirmed until several years later when a new friend, from Japan, said, "Do you know what your tattoo says?" And I said, "I hope so." Fortunately, according to her, it really does mean "poem" or "poetry."</span></span></blockquote><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >She also shared this lovely tattoo:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6DMlFNzthyCThAdCH0ZtAPJaPaTPR5-kDi6il9_0NB7bZewblzs87Kvb_k8czezKulmJQiZEee0JplPzxkyS-ILonl-ikSEXSVrrOSz1jtKH1POGK4sKfSuMITbgsIKCoM4fu-Uy/s1600/TeagueTattoo2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461472786990702018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6DMlFNzthyCThAdCH0ZtAPJaPaTPR5-kDi6il9_0NB7bZewblzs87Kvb_k8czezKulmJQiZEee0JplPzxkyS-ILonl-ikSEXSVrrOSz1jtKH1POGK4sKfSuMITbgsIKCoM4fu-Uy/s400/TeagueTattoo2.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 377px;" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The other tattoo is a couple of years old. It was done by Amy Justen</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> at <a href="http://sacredrosetattoo.wordpress.com/">Sacred Rose Tattoo</a> in Berkeley, California. I've always loved the ocean</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> and wanted to live by the coast, so the California seagull is symbolic</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> for me of my migration out West. Amy Justen has a background in fine</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> art and does some really interesting, painterly work with white and</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> grey, which I love, but which made some people think the tattoo was a</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> decal when I first got it!</span><br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Be sure to head over to BillyBlog to read one of Alexandra's poems <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-alexandra-teague.html">here</a>.<br /><br /></span> </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461479208451064802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4-FG1CObhQXvU6mkhlEpmffNis8j9vyoD1aMnKVfxEmdWwOmTrKrrmYYLeLo9M4CZwxpADsGBr-pGiCSWlgiUFiYUNkvlvNq7ONryzWn7nwiIY3L5JW-LKAhgJlDLukfY3WpZryc/s200/mortalGeographyCover.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 200px;" /></a></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Alexandra Teague’s first book of poetry, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mortal-Geography-Alexandra-Teague/dp/0892553588"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">Mortal Geography</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, won the <a href="http://www.perseabooks.com/poetryprize.php">Lexi Rudnitsky </a></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><a href="http://www.perseabooks.com/poetryprize.php">Prize</a> and has just been published (April 2010) by Persea Books. Her work has also appeared in </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Best-New-Poets-2008-Emerging/dp/0976629631"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">Best New Poets 2008</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, </span><a href="http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/archive/?id=23"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">Best American Poetry 2009</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, and </span><a href="http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300074734"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">The Yale Anthology of Younger American Poetry</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, as well as journals including </span><a href="http://www.missourireview.com/"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">The Missouri Review</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, </span><a href="http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eiareview/mainpages/tirweb.html"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">The Iowa Review</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, and </span><a href="http://www.nereview.com/"><i style="font-family: times new roman;">New England Review</i></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">. She was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and has since lived in Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, Montana, Hawaii, and California. She currently teaches English at <a href="http://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en.html">City College of San Francisco</a> and lives in Oakland. For more information about upcoming readings and publications, visit </span><a href="http://www.alexandrateague.com/" style="font-family: times new roman;" target="_blank">www.alexandrateague.com</a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">.</span> <span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /><br />Thanks to Alexandra for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /></span> </span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:courier new;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><iframe 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=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0892553588" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div></span>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Alexandra Teague

Someone recently asked me where I find all of these tattooed poets. A great question, and I owe thanks to many people, for most individuals ...

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