Brian's Literary Chest Tattoo

The weather here in New York has been turning autumnal and visible tattoos have been disappearing from the streets, but fear not, Readers, we still have material to get us through the end of the year, thanks to a backlog of photos from the summer!<br /> <br /> Case in  point is this tattoo from Brian:<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0DTC-KjL_OtqueaOTzAIgbcfUFwm22VV2DpNbyXt8CJsq5qJbbGdZm_7pj5r7DaNgInfgqVUBT2EY2R01DcNxxrwwCxvGc44kp3z2CaTIgFyXrOw8W5l_0uNFo5Zr7i9piI916-O9XRE/s1600/incomplete+imperfect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0DTC-KjL_OtqueaOTzAIgbcfUFwm22VV2DpNbyXt8CJsq5qJbbGdZm_7pj5r7DaNgInfgqVUBT2EY2R01DcNxxrwwCxvGc44kp3z2CaTIgFyXrOw8W5l_0uNFo5Zr7i9piI916-O9XRE/s400/incomplete+imperfect.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <br /> <br /> I met Brian at a drugstore in Bay Ridge, back in the beginning of August. He told me he had just started working as an apprentice at A-List Industry Tattoos, a few blocks away.<br /> <br /> At the time, Brian had seven tattoos, including this chest piece, which is comprised of two parts.<br /> <br /> The top section reads "Incomplete - Imperfect" and is an allusion to lines from Chuck Palahniuk's novel Fight Club: <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">"<span style="font-family: georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;">May I never be complete.  May I never be content.  May I never be perfect.  Deliver me, Tyler, from being perfect and complete."</span></blockquote>Brian credited this piece to Paul Ilardi, the owner at Monster Tattoos on Staten Island.<br /> <br /> The bottom section of the tattoo features a banner that reads "Death steals everything but out stories."<br /> <br /> Brian explained that he took this to mean that "what outlives us is the memories we have, the stories we have".<br /> <br /> It's actually the final line in a short poem by Jim Harrison:<br /> <br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>

Brian's Literary Chest Tattoo

The weather here in New York has been turning autumnal and visible tattoos have been disappearing from the streets, but fear not, Readers, w...

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Marisa Shares Some Vonnegut

I love a good literary tattoo, especially when I recognize the text and the author.<br /><br />I met Marisa after I spotted these six familiar words below her neck:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR8YvtPfOyDrENLFgBIZswwRXhYv436TP3DpshTKxtbOoqdXOKdHQl-cW7eWq-YAfmIM2ffYlux89woh7dHaztsA__-AFSYhh-PpRHN-898x-w_8HUTeNQtNz3raUfjThZW3snok9rMHM/s1600/vonnegut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR8YvtPfOyDrENLFgBIZswwRXhYv436TP3DpshTKxtbOoqdXOKdHQl-cW7eWq-YAfmIM2ffYlux89woh7dHaztsA__-AFSYhh-PpRHN-898x-w_8HUTeNQtNz3raUfjThZW3snok9rMHM/s400/vonnegut.jpg" width="365" /></a></div><br /> The quote "Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt" refers to an epitaph inscribed on a tombstone in Vonnegut's classic novel, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five">Slaughterhouse-Five</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn87V9n5zz9bQX8hMIDGEB1gS9LqjsNfuQqHVxMNcNr1ogZ56HAZHZdDnheh-gLgPtmavSoJWVEiK_tlVPblyYrNRx_EFhY8-gUUrpP_OdFcXlKvrNSkO_1b7qbi8IjB_bJ1BwwalTDx8/s1600/TombSlaughterhouse5.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn87V9n5zz9bQX8hMIDGEB1gS9LqjsNfuQqHVxMNcNr1ogZ56HAZHZdDnheh-gLgPtmavSoJWVEiK_tlVPblyYrNRx_EFhY8-gUUrpP_OdFcXlKvrNSkO_1b7qbi8IjB_bJ1BwwalTDx8/s1600/TombSlaughterhouse5.gif" /></a></div>This is Marisa's one and only tattoo and she explained why she chose this particular quote:<br /><blockquote>"I was going through a hard time and it helped me out a lot - it's just one of those quotes, so meaningful ... that I just needed to have it on me."</blockquote>Marisa and I share a mutual appreciation of Vonnegut's work and, despite the greatness of <u>Slaughterhouse-Five</u>, we both liked <u>Cat's Cradle</u> better.<br /><br />The word were inked at <a href="http://www.highrollertattoony.com/">High Roller Tattoo</a> in Hicksville, New York.<br /><br />Thanks to Marisa for sharing this classic literary tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br />And remember, you can see more literary tattoos at <a href="http://www.contrariwise.org/">Contrariwise</a> and <a href="http://tattoolit.com/">The Word Made Flesh</a>.<br /><br /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=widgetsamazon-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0027DOSZG&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. </span></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span> <div class="MsoNormal"><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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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></div><br /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=widgetsamazon-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B000JVH78S&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>

Marisa Shares Some Vonnegut

I love a good literary tattoo, especially when I recognize the text and the author. I met Marisa after I spotted these six familiar words be...

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Jaimie's Emersonian Ink

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8cBWqGHxt_28QE8Hb4b7uY-Vdlln2PbCR6khjbUJefy-n4gSCBidx-aBHKbmmCZUB5fm9CDDpVCDQqA2P97r32WfNqXQIG-DvqiIppA7JSPR836IEZsneyrbRuJellMDTUE3glmnckY/s1600/PEACE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8cBWqGHxt_28QE8Hb4b7uY-Vdlln2PbCR6khjbUJefy-n4gSCBidx-aBHKbmmCZUB5fm9CDDpVCDQqA2P97r32WfNqXQIG-DvqiIppA7JSPR836IEZsneyrbRuJellMDTUE3glmnckY/s400/PEACE.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself" are the words inked across Jaimie's back. I spotted her down the street from my home in Bay Ridge.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I asked Jaimie to explain why she got these words from poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson">Ralph Waldo Emerson's</a> essay "<a href="http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm">Self-Reliance</a>" on her back:</span></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">"This has been my favorite quote for years," she told me. "I studied American literature in college, so I studied a lot of Emerson." She also noted that the quote is "very true".</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">She had this tattooed in Manhattan on St. Mark's.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks to Jaimie for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><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 <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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></div>

Jaimie's Emersonian Ink

  "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself" are the words inked across Jaimie's back. I spotted her down the street from my h...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Elliott D. Smith

I met Elliott D. Smith at the Union Square Barnes & Noble last month and took pictures of his tattoos for The Tattooed Poets Project. I also met his roommate Jared, whose work will appear here tomorrow.<br /><br />Elliott has quite a bit of work, including a sleeve-in-progress, which is being constructed by the wonderfully talented <a href="https://profiles.google.com/the.milkmaid/about">Joy Rumore</a> at <a href="http://www.1228tattoo.com/">Twelve 28 Tattoo</a> in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.<br /><br />Check out this composite of Elliott's right arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rNd-iSvxzQRcvaiJzO9uw84njHpQ5NdkppeoyYdIKU5X-Ul41uknjhqzC6wLlscSdQZAoucmQ3bqGDPt4Rdw4aVl5dUuQbXiW22OpHjLum9SZbfhgq2dzPRZOznzd-Et8anAfzMkF58/s1600/elliot+smith+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rNd-iSvxzQRcvaiJzO9uw84njHpQ5NdkppeoyYdIKU5X-Ul41uknjhqzC6wLlscSdQZAoucmQ3bqGDPt4Rdw4aVl5dUuQbXiW22OpHjLum9SZbfhgq2dzPRZOznzd-Et8anAfzMkF58/s400/elliot+smith+collage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This still-incomplete tattoo is part of a sleeve based on a mural at the Morgan Street stop on the L train in Brooklyn.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9FkQJk3qrCJrLweBOgmBnVRTHbdSTRC_pR6KaYfFM0b_fGGjM1-7OySsC2Z4lPS1humThCL_wLjrWlLcKwGzm6SaU_bHFCIEXcbmxIQytFpu_G5_vCuhGd7CjrUQu1_w-e03hhYZUbQ/s1600/mag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9FkQJk3qrCJrLweBOgmBnVRTHbdSTRC_pR6KaYfFM0b_fGGjM1-7OySsC2Z4lPS1humThCL_wLjrWlLcKwGzm6SaU_bHFCIEXcbmxIQytFpu_G5_vCuhGd7CjrUQu1_w-e03hhYZUbQ/s400/mag.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Elliott D. Smith</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The sleeve has the Alice in Wonderland figure at its center, but a lot of other images, like the banana as well. Elliott pointed out in the photo above that the banana (lower right corner) is much smaller. For the purpose of the art of the tattoo sleeve, its scale has been increased significantly.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi183k2-q7oAzxok38bJOeXS53_61VQ7Ic5bwhZepHi50iIEf4HwiQY6pOve9qbTPSQK_GTZ54kpnhvO95_1uk1-vHV4kAOX_vt10nAy45QUnFsqqhBpJ7GCwPRm9jhPvpIcSBdHLfbMto/s1600/Banana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi183k2-q7oAzxok38bJOeXS53_61VQ7Ic5bwhZepHi50iIEf4HwiQY6pOve9qbTPSQK_GTZ54kpnhvO95_1uk1-vHV4kAOX_vt10nAy45QUnFsqqhBpJ7GCwPRm9jhPvpIcSBdHLfbMto/s640/Banana.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><br />Elliott added that he visually enjoys the image of the mural, and his "own little Alice in Wonderland dream land" is slowly taking shape on his flesh.<br /><br />Also on his right arm with the sleeve is this quote from "<i>The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action</i>," by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde">Audre Lourde</a>:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAG9h4jNhWA7IVV9Ey0O0SrCvPU70a3j3yHHoSUztD8pG06900tVuHqqUCojSaW5C3GdOfX_icfmEaR4j_8MeCB1Dq-eMlXEcqFOsJJZtYQ3__0QSCVIjm7csJAyZx5cA4qt_JIfVXCdw/s1600/forearm+quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAG9h4jNhWA7IVV9Ey0O0SrCvPU70a3j3yHHoSUztD8pG06900tVuHqqUCojSaW5C3GdOfX_icfmEaR4j_8MeCB1Dq-eMlXEcqFOsJJZtYQ3__0QSCVIjm7csJAyZx5cA4qt_JIfVXCdw/s400/forearm+quote.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The quote is "I am not only a casualty, I am also a warrior."<br /><br />There are times when a writer's words resonate so loudly in your ears, they shake you to your core. Elliott told me that he "read it [these lines] one day and the next day got the tattoo."<br /><br />He offered up this interpretation of the line: "it's easy to think of yourself as victim," he said, but succeeding in life is about "surviving and fighting through victimhood".<br /><br />Elliott also has these words on his outer wrists:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxx7QeMzxWk20OPtWfIQEyMksL5ymziW62anIQHDBlyMiLpm9jY2MQPUcuQFx7sYO_eC90XOEQAz-fG_3PNVAHYFHQpZlWonKLoEXZjOgcKCOFshOeV7GtgNK0CnzD5-AEr939Y_ESFLs/s1600/Freedom+Poet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxx7QeMzxWk20OPtWfIQEyMksL5ymziW62anIQHDBlyMiLpm9jY2MQPUcuQFx7sYO_eC90XOEQAz-fG_3PNVAHYFHQpZlWonKLoEXZjOgcKCOFshOeV7GtgNK0CnzD5-AEr939Y_ESFLs/s400/Freedom+Poet.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This is the third poet this month with "poet" inked on his or her flesh. However, the combination of "freedom poet" adds another dimension to the corporeal text.<br /><br />This was a "spur of the moment" tattoo, Elliott told me, elaborating that aside from the obvious "poet," he is "holding freedom in his hand and facing out".<br /><br />Finally, we don't get a lot of lower back tattoos here on Tattoosday, but when we do, they are extraordinary:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7haEjmwRr_ClIHGlAV7dKHmZm3M2tn5f9uAzMwGZmpNKw8J2FbZ6F-S4bOoE5Eh5Mb6r6iDrYRXTL2QPid2g-Zadud8jXGUcplfLaQqbeO1r3b7azay3Pk3UbjvBW8lWsX7b-bySKCqk/s1600/City+Lower+Back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7haEjmwRr_ClIHGlAV7dKHmZm3M2tn5f9uAzMwGZmpNKw8J2FbZ6F-S4bOoE5Eh5Mb6r6iDrYRXTL2QPid2g-Zadud8jXGUcplfLaQqbeO1r3b7azay3Pk3UbjvBW8lWsX7b-bySKCqk/s400/City+Lower+Back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Elliott took a couple of photos into Joy and she crafted this design. The concept is a spin on the "power to the people" idea, but with an emphasis on urban people. "Most Americans live in cities," he explained, "but [they] don't have power". This is a spin on the frustration that many feel, that the values of the citizenry of the American cities are not represented by the government.<br /><br />As for poetry, Elliott offered us this work:<br /><br /><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">EARNING STRIPES</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I own thirteen striped shirts.</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have known the misfortune of wearing lines on skin,</div><div class="MsoNormal">stretch marks and self-hate carve flesh in convincing fashion.</div><div class="MsoNormal">No lover has ever asked me why</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I have known the misfortune of wearing lines on skin,</div><div class="MsoNormal">razor blade reminders tattoo thighs with teenage dreams.</div><div class="MsoNormal">No lover has ever asked me why</div><div class="MsoNormal">it was so easy to steal from myself.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Razor blade reminders tattoo thighs with teenage dreams,</div><div class="MsoNormal">this belly, a thanksgiving turkey for carving-- </div><div class="MsoNormal">it was so easy to steal from myself</div><div class="MsoNormal">when I didn’t believe I had anything to give.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This belly, a thanksgiving turkey for carving.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sliced up white meat</div><div class="MsoNormal">when I didn’t believe I had anything to give.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mother doesn’t know there’s blood on the stairs.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Sliced up white meat,</div><div class="MsoNormal">stretch marks and self-hate carve flesh in convincing fashion.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mother doesn’t know there’s blood on the stairs.</div><div class="MsoNormal">I own thirteen striped shirts.</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Elliott D. Smith reps Louisville, Cincinnati, and Brooklyn. When he's not  working with formerly incarcerated people or conducting research on masculinity, he drinks whiskey and talks too loudly. He believes in the power of tattoos, reference books, and matching music with the weather.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Thanks to Elliott for sharing his ink and his poetry here with us on Tattoosday!</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.<br /><br />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> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Elliott D. Smith

I met Elliott D. Smith at the Union Square Barnes & Noble last month and took pictures of his tattoos for The Tattooed Poets Project. I...

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Rilke On the Flesh

It's February 1, which means we are only two months away from the start of a new edition of <a href="http://tattooedpoets.blogspot.com/2010/03/index-of-tattooed-poets.html">The Tattooed Poets Project,</a> and I have begun assembling the first posts for this annual extravaganza.<br /><br />What better way to acknowledge this looming event, but to post a poetic tattoo?<br /><br />The following piece is one that I spotted at the end of last summer on Penn Plaza. Belonging to a young lady named Rosa, it has been one of my few remaining 2010 leftovers:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-U4ZuQdr-MF7GphTQmrVROovGgMIAg9qqLyqtCrxd9U-cD76q5C6sPtILiTrHfMogmiCgwYU5vFHMnApgEAs_iqU6LTTNJqRiGafCxMZp_Rnn_2N6fKa1mnIxG8X-vyAuymiyz6fEjr8/s1600/rilke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-U4ZuQdr-MF7GphTQmrVROovGgMIAg9qqLyqtCrxd9U-cD76q5C6sPtILiTrHfMogmiCgwYU5vFHMnApgEAs_iqU6LTTNJqRiGafCxMZp_Rnn_2N6fKa1mnIxG8X-vyAuymiyz6fEjr8/s400/rilke.jpg" width="343" /></a></div><br /><br />What I noticed first was not that this was a line of verse, but that it was placed on the body in an unusual way. Most lines of poetry, when manifested on flesh, are on the arms and wrist, or the lower legs and occasionally a back. This tattoo runs from the front of to her back, vertically climbing and descending from her shoulder.<br /><br />The line is in German, and represents a piece from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke">Rainier Maria Rilke's</a> <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duino_Elegies">Duino Elegies</a></i>.<br /><br /><blockquote><b>Ein jeder Engel ist schrecklich</b></blockquote><br />Or, in context: <br /><blockquote><i>Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels’<br />Hierarchies? and even if one of them pressed me<br />suddenly against his heart: I would be consumed<br />in that overwhelming existence. For beauty is nothing<br />but the beginning of terror, which we still are just able to endure,<br />and we are so awed because it serenely disdains<br />to annihilate us. Every angel is terrifying.</i> <i><br /></i></blockquote> Those are the opening lines of the first elegy, translated by <a href="http://www.stephenmitchellbooks.com/transAdapt/poetryRilkeExcerpt03.html">Stephen Mitchell</a>.<br /><br />Rosa didn't give me much insight as to why she had the line tattooed, but it is quite a powerful statement.<br /><br />When I asked her who the artists was, she replied only that it was someone in Brooklyn that went under the name "The Milk Maid". This sounded familiar at the time, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Of course, I came to be reminded that The Milk Maid is the moniker of Joy Rumore, at <a href="http://www.1228tattoo.com/">Twelve 28 Tattoo</a>, quite a wonderful artist, whose work has appeared previously on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/search/label/Twelve%2028%20Tattoo">here</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Rosa for sharing this lovely line of verse with us here on Tattoosday!

Rilke On the Flesh

It's February 1, which means we are only two months away from the start of a new edition of The Tattooed Poets Project, and I have begu...

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Jack Kerouac Back

This is an orphan post, what I refer to as a photo with no real story attached to it, as the individual who let me take the photo, never e-mailed me with any further details.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2adXQmsLLoXvCYmHHV3CT9QlD8UsASg2Vddvghbe7_oua3uokxAz-t6vyAnW9Qn9U-m4TTyNAq3Xv6Gv7P9fx3gT5kvpmYJnaNuW_zeR53MqDcycsDNmaK__SqC1aRbRwS-BbFuUn/s1600/kerouac+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2adXQmsLLoXvCYmHHV3CT9QlD8UsASg2Vddvghbe7_oua3uokxAz-t6vyAnW9Qn9U-m4TTyNAq3Xv6Gv7P9fx3gT5kvpmYJnaNuW_zeR53MqDcycsDNmaK__SqC1aRbRwS-BbFuUn/s400/kerouac+back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I shot the picture at the end of the Brooklyn Cyclones-Staten Island Yankees game at <a href="http://www.brooklyncyclones.com/">MCU Park</a> in Coney Island.<br /><br />The crowd was filing out, so a protracted conversation was not an option.<br /><br />The woman who belongs to this tattoo, however, did allow me to take the photo and said it was a quote from Jack Kerouac's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-Penguin-Classics-Jack-Kerouac/dp/0142437255?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">On the Road.</a><br /><br />It's a slightly modified version of this phenomenal passage:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><h1 style="margin: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”</span></h1></blockquote><br /><br />If you're reading this, Dear Contributor, please accept my thanks for allowing us to enjoy your tattoo here on Tattoosday, but contact me, please, to tell us more.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0142437255" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /></div><br /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0140283293&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>

Jack Kerouac Back

This is an orphan post, what I refer to as a photo with no real story attached to it, as the individual who let me take the photo, never e-m...

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Sarah Channels Emma Goldman

I recently had the intense displeasure of discovering that <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2008/07/hello-polaroid-goodbye-kodak.html">my camera</a> had broken. For someone whose spare time is spent taking pictures of other people's tattoos, this was a harrowing experience, especially since my BlackBerry's camera is flash-less and takes good pictures under only specific lighting conditions.<br /><br />So what's a poor inkspotter to do? Pass out his card and hope for the best.<br /><br />And despite dozens of cards distributed to many people with cool tattoos, the only one who has really come through for me is Sarah, who I met last Friday on the subway platform at West Fourth Street, as I waited for the D train to Brooklyn.<br /><br />Possessor of several tattoos, the one of Sarah's I spotted was on her inner left forearm. My photo was blurry and, as the D pulled into West Fourth, she handed me her card so I could follow-up with her. Thankfully, she is a woman of her word, and sent me this photo yesterday:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_xuCYZQS89EW4ORvkCnCGjhJUAjIPm5Uvg8UTqe4lKbP0fcFbER9sUj4xQoa65ftYj4JtTknhbMoaPpsZ21m4Zq6g_JdHOAVsX0aEQZTFMV-seJdADa1KVK48ebmyO0pYn6IraUk/s1600/tattoobook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu_xuCYZQS89EW4ORvkCnCGjhJUAjIPm5Uvg8UTqe4lKbP0fcFbER9sUj4xQoa65ftYj4JtTknhbMoaPpsZ21m4Zq6g_JdHOAVsX0aEQZTFMV-seJdADa1KVK48ebmyO0pYn6IraUk/s400/tattoobook.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Since Sarah is a writer and journalist, I'll let her do the talking. You can check out her work at  her website <a href="http://ohyouprettythings.net/" target="_blank">ohyouprettythings.net</a> and/or read her blog at <a href="http://champagnecandy.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">champagnecandy.tumblr.com</a>. Sarah explains:<br /><br /><blockquote><i>It says "It's not my revolution if I can't dance to it"</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYeNI_Go-HgDfYi03h8l9lP9nBlr697jgpaFtjeV87gh98BRgWQg9mBbFFTA8zWh0Jc5Y7omoOWvrxVAS7JlpQXpfMcYfXA5_oSgyvPlgoI5I3HWEiopP9qU0-wYSk_g8nLLcTycVG/s1600/tattoobook+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYeNI_Go-HgDfYi03h8l9lP9nBlr697jgpaFtjeV87gh98BRgWQg9mBbFFTA8zWh0Jc5Y7omoOWvrxVAS7JlpQXpfMcYfXA5_oSgyvPlgoI5I3HWEiopP9qU0-wYSk_g8nLLcTycVG/s320/tattoobook+detail.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><i>The tattoo is my most recent, and it's a paraphrase of a possibly-apocryphal <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman">Emma Goldman</a></i> <i>quotation. It's a line that spoke to me the first time I heard it. I'm a political journalist and a feminist activist, and Goldman's always been someone I looked up to. Also, I became a political person through music, and dancing and music have a particular significance for me.</i><br /><i><br /></i><br /><i>It was done by <a href="http://brooklyntattoo.com/RYOKO.html">Ryoko</a> at <a href="http://www.brooklyntattoo.com/WELCOME_2.html">Brooklyn Tattoo</a> [who we most recently saw inked Julie Powell's tattoo <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/06/julies-crazy-tattoo.html">here</a>] and she's super-awesome...</i></blockquote>As a lover of type tattoos, I had inquired about the font used and Sarah did not disappoint: "the font is <a href="http://www.fontspace.com/david-rakowski/garton">Garton</a> and the words revolution and dance are in <a href="http://www.dafont.com/miama.font">Miama</a>".<br /><br />Thanks to Sarah for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Sarah Channels Emma Goldman

I recently had the intense displeasure of discovering that my camera had broken. For someone whose spare time is spent taking pictures of o...

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Kat's Mucha Tattoo, With a Twist of Lemony Snicket

At 31st Street and 7th Avenue, I stopped Kat to ask about her ink.<br /><br />She was happy to see me and had been wondering, having previously read Tattoosday and knowing she worked in the same area as I did, if our paths would ever cross.<br /><br />She has seven tattoos (and a cool blog <a href="http://www.katofalltrades.com/">here</a>), but we focused on the large tattoo on her upper right arm:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA8bFGbYX2_ttsNhOnp7x_APAcs8YrzS0Kfecvk21sWIWGjgrsbLhqy_PnoXusVb9fWKcKXCrDSiBXwkgPNAKIpP31t3OAf7Va-KfEciA-fP9n5AcPY8iDbX8iOQm35F4wm-3moaAe/s1600/Kat+Sleeve+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA8bFGbYX2_ttsNhOnp7x_APAcs8YrzS0Kfecvk21sWIWGjgrsbLhqy_PnoXusVb9fWKcKXCrDSiBXwkgPNAKIpP31t3OAf7Va-KfEciA-fP9n5AcPY8iDbX8iOQm35F4wm-3moaAe/s640/Kat+Sleeve+c.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /> Or, looking at it as a whole:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnz3TXPEU9nY2tF7PJvktFYJrMnF8EGskFt_-Y8rsCx3d6ofOqMFoDEyvBr9zc3xcg0FRCER5aoiQvAfljuhjz38DyFLWE7H-EcmXqAY7caoP41yww62YnR9JPTy3PSg7igYvPMrXa/s1600/Mucha+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnz3TXPEU9nY2tF7PJvktFYJrMnF8EGskFt_-Y8rsCx3d6ofOqMFoDEyvBr9zc3xcg0FRCER5aoiQvAfljuhjz38DyFLWE7H-EcmXqAY7caoP41yww62YnR9JPTy3PSg7igYvPMrXa/s400/Mucha+collage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The art is based on the work of <a href="http://www.muchafoundation.org/MHome.aspx">Alphonse Mucha</a>, who has inspired a couple of other tattoos appearing previously on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/06/sarah-shoulders-her-slavic-heritage.html">here</a> and <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/09/delissa-reveals-little-bit-of-monaco-on.html">here</a>.<br /><br />If that second link looks familiar, it is because both Kat's tattoo and Delissa's are inspired by the same work, "Monaco".<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbV-BkMZcB5SybIAJVlhCt0Xw3S93nVghXFRzviHdN7XQ61y6BeX8mECVto7QkVsAN3JK62ukjgaiuA9o2gTy7cgwaxK7HqYgLCYHpis1otOG8U-PRwPVGZ4JbYR56oXOG5GxEuuJv/s1600/Mucha_Monaco_Monte_Carlo_1897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbV-BkMZcB5SybIAJVlhCt0Xw3S93nVghXFRzviHdN7XQ61y6BeX8mECVto7QkVsAN3JK62ukjgaiuA9o2gTy7cgwaxK7HqYgLCYHpis1otOG8U-PRwPVGZ4JbYR56oXOG5GxEuuJv/s400/Mucha_Monaco_Monte_Carlo_1897.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br />Kat's tattoo is interpreted a little differently, translated with brighter colors, which, in Kat's words, were "amped up to be on my arm".<br /><br />The plan is eventually for this tattoo to expand to be a half-sleeve.<br /><br />The phrase "the world is quiet here" is a nod to a motto for a secret organization known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V.F.D.">V.F.D.</a> in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wreck-Unfortunate-Events-Books/dp/0061119067?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wreck-Unfortunate-Events-Books/dp/0061119067?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">A Series of Unfortunate Events</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061119067" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0061119067" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemony_Snicket">Lemony Snicket</a>. These books are favorites among Kat's list of much-loved titles.<br /><br />Her work was created by the artist <a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/the.milkmaid#buzz">Joy Rumore</a> at <a href="http://www.1228tattoo.com/">Twelve 28 Tattoo</a> in Brooklyn.<br /><br />Kind thanks to Kat for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Kat's Mucha Tattoo, With a Twist of Lemony Snicket

At 31st Street and 7th Avenue, I stopped Kat to ask about her ink. She was happy to see me and had been wondering, having previously read Ta...

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