Emma's Monarchs, and a Spalsh of Verlaine

At the end of July, a young woman named Emma missed her train in Penn Station and had some time to kill. Her wait was shortened when I chanced upon her and asked about this lovely tattoo she had going on her left arm:<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXer9qtPtABI7G6DHKN7v8JyEszoCVGpa5EWhbcfaBWBxoYKl1OjcZHuLq1HehjoIi1z7Q8d9lSVCK3rzqXuM3BFVk83TnAo9iECTL7372aftj92PoAwhNR4i0PMkRrzxz4Ocjl-K-og/s1600/monarch+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNXer9qtPtABI7G6DHKN7v8JyEszoCVGpa5EWhbcfaBWBxoYKl1OjcZHuLq1HehjoIi1z7Q8d9lSVCK3rzqXuM3BFVk83TnAo9iECTL7372aftj92PoAwhNR4i0PMkRrzxz4Ocjl-K-og/s400/monarch+2.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /> She explained the origins of this wonderful body art:<br /> <blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">"I knew that I wanted a monarch. And I knew that I wanted it on my arm. And I knew that I wanted it coming out of a chrysalis ... I did a lot of research online and ... didn’t know who I wanted to get it done by and was just in San Diego for the day with my cousin. Pacific Beach, actually, and was ... shopping in Pacific Beach and walked into a tattoo parlor, just like 'Oh, let’s go look at tattoo parlors!' and was flipping through all the catalogs and it was like dragon, dragon, dragon. Samurai guy, samurai guy, samurai guy. And then opened one and it was just all these amazing beautiful naturescapes and just amazing detail and I immediately, right there was like, 'whoever this is, I want this person to do my tattoo'. And they were like, 'Hold on. She’s in the back' … her name is Rebecca Min and I basically came to her with the idea and was like, 'You’re the artist, so I want it hanging from a dead branch. I want the branch to be black and gray and I love monarchs.'</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDn8PfGx67bJ-2OmYf2aS5QTL5dtIdU-0kKN9iL-kK907LfHZsbB8rozIGIIScp3kQsZ7dK1rCcvI2uNEz0Y6FJjstkfn773Ut0IS1b_qEkJ2Ehrv3QsO8DYOZe6jEkSsnrDMlDw_Io_s/s1600/monarch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDn8PfGx67bJ-2OmYf2aS5QTL5dtIdU-0kKN9iL-kK907LfHZsbB8rozIGIIScp3kQsZ7dK1rCcvI2uNEz0Y6FJjstkfn773Ut0IS1b_qEkJ2Ehrv3QsO8DYOZe6jEkSsnrDMlDw_Io_s/s400/monarch.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">I have always loved monarchs for my whole life from when I was three. That’s one of my earliest memories, I found a monarch caterpillar with my great aunt and took it home from Wisconsin to, at the time, Chicago, in a jar with some milkweed and watched it spin a chrysalis and then hatch out of the chrysalis and then let it go and ever since then I’ve just loved monarchs …they’ve reminded me of the older women in my family, my grandmother, my great aunt.</span><br /> <br /> <div class="MsoNormal">It’s still a work in progress and she combined all these pictures, she put them together and I knew that I wanted the chrysalis to be empty, like it had just come out of the chrysalis, like a rebirth sort of thing and we both had the idea to make it translucent so that you could see the branch through the chrysalis...</div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkg1KsSHFQMajZ3ZOd6O2HTiv_03EGyH5HXRWd5g_qWO6gzzf8_5eAbeyvH-N6u0zp68OnDMvaclFFM2mDpDdscJDvysF1_jkr78nk2JplVM54-wE_pb2p8ZEydaUUTrl_urpok3gu9_E/s1600/monarch+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkg1KsSHFQMajZ3ZOd6O2HTiv_03EGyH5HXRWd5g_qWO6gzzf8_5eAbeyvH-N6u0zp68OnDMvaclFFM2mDpDdscJDvysF1_jkr78nk2JplVM54-wE_pb2p8ZEydaUUTrl_urpok3gu9_E/s400/monarch+detail.jpg" width="262" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal">We’ve been working on it for over a year and a half now, just bits and pieces , my longest session was three and a half hours and I had the idea to do a whole swarm from different perspectives and once we have all of those one, she’s going to pick a light source from one direction and do shadows….and she’s  gonna do moss on the branches, a white lichen."</div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal">The shop where Emma began to work with Rebecca Min was Chronic Tattoo. Emma says Rebecca has moved on to Eden Tattoo, although she is still listed as an artist on the Chronic website.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Emma also has these tattoos on her wrists:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLgOrLEMwlpXPsM6uhYfJu_zWFwnrh3-fD7ODTqY5BOd1g5enuZFt78pUgAk24eRR2bxupIJXaIHqeZW0PX5oay5DzHT_gUeqvCJ06dL80j7QuuFEGXX-KP5ytF61l6f1h3nZ5weTiwPw/s1600/monarch+wrists.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLgOrLEMwlpXPsM6uhYfJu_zWFwnrh3-fD7ODTqY5BOd1g5enuZFt78pUgAk24eRR2bxupIJXaIHqeZW0PX5oay5DzHT_gUeqvCJ06dL80j7QuuFEGXX-KP5ytF61l6f1h3nZ5weTiwPw/s400/monarch+wrists.jpg" width="352" /></a></div><br /> The left wrist reads, "Les roses étaient toutes rouges et les lierres étaient tout noirs" which translates to "The roses were all red and ivy were all black."<br /> <br /> The right wrist reads, "Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches" which translates to "Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and branches."<br />   <br /> <div class="MsoNormal">Emma elaborates: <br /> <blockquote>They are the first two lines of the last two songs in a set called "Aria T'oublie" by Claude Debussy. The poetry is by Paul Verlaine. I was a classical voice major in college and I wanted to do the set for my senior recital and I am obviously not your normal opera singer and my voice teacher said, 'Okay, that’s fine you can do the set, except for the last two songs. They’re too hard for you.' And I said, 'Fuck you.' And I took a year off and did nothing but practice and did lessons and studied and performed the set and was, too my knowledge, the first undergraduate ever to perform the set in its entirety. And so this was my badge of honor. Now seven year later, eight years later and until I’m in my eighties, I can look down and read these first two lines and remember every single word in French to both of these songs.</blockquote></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">I was in West Hollywood, I was 23 and had 50 bucks and was like 'who can do this for really cheap?' and I don’t remember what his name was but I do know that at the time he had a sprained wrist and he was like 'I’ll do it. I’ll do it cheap. But I can’t believe you’re making me tattoo in a foreign language, upside down, with a sprained wrist.'</div></blockquote>

Emma's Monarchs, and a Spalsh of Verlaine

At the end of July, a young woman named Emma missed her train in Penn Station and had some time to kill. Her wait was shortened when I chanc...

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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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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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Katie Carries Her Father's Heart (and Her Mom's and Brother's, Too)

As a tribute to dads today on Father's Day, here's a tattoo from earlier in the week:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKSMuWskDQrU86E9ywbfdYydXA8_cHSFKAGUIcSQjJ9tB9RR-2KfEV8OnZyVlGvheOR_WpUnyhWUFYpeQbOBMHO1FV-vvOH2Yqg6ll_KJEjApXQ41HADKqF3k7PAjZ3AJwIkVBqWu/s1600/I+carry.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/AVvXsEixKSMuWskDQrU86E9ywbfdYydXA8_cHSFKAGUIcSQjJ9tB9RR-2KfEV8OnZyVlGvheOR_WpUnyhWUFYpeQbOBMHO1FV-vvOH2Yqg6ll_KJEjApXQ41HADKqF3k7PAjZ3AJwIkVBqWu/s400/I+carry.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This tattoo, on the upper left side of Katie's back, is more of a family tribute, than just a father's honor, but her dad did have a hand in the design.<br /><br />The words are from the last line of an <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/156">e.e. cummings</a> poem, "i carry your heart with me":<br /><blockquote><br /><pre>i carry your heart with me(i carry it in<br />my heart)i am never without it(anywhere<br />i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done<br />by only me is your doing,my darling)<br />i fear<br />no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want<br />no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)<br />and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant<br />and whatever a sun will always sing is you<br /><br />here is the deepest secret nobody knows<br />(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud<br />and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows<br />higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)<br />and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart<br /><br />i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)</pre></blockquote><pre> </pre>The three hearts were drawn by Katie's mother, father, and brother. As she sees it, she is always carrying their hearts with her at all times.<br /><br />It's a nice tribute to her family.<br /><br />This is one of three tattoos that Katie has. The font used is designed to look similar to cummings' typewriter-style of print.<br /><br />The artist was <a href="http://www.addictedtoinktattoos.com/content/cash.asp">Cash</a> at <a href="http://www.addictedtoinktattoos.com/">Addicted to Ink</a> in White Plains, New York. Work from Addicted to Ink has appeared previously on Tattoosday <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2009/04/anthonys-skate-and-destroy-tattoo.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Thanks to Katie for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Katie Carries Her Father's Heart (and Her Mom's and Brother's, Too)

As a tribute to dads today on Father's Day, here's a tattoo from earlier in the week: This tattoo, on the upper left side of Katie...

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A Peek at the Final Issue of Holly Rose Review

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jPb5tFV1ZskEvK6FDwpwiJMn-fSWynuEU-sWqp_ADitdzJITEWKLTQS9PtGS4q5wOSvCpvHvOkmRrevmIZYRx7WokoCBny8uEDNiz81uvCBbKIs6kwEBFTisVz8qKFCL0_WHwok4/s1600/s_herman_cover-599x793.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jPb5tFV1ZskEvK6FDwpwiJMn-fSWynuEU-sWqp_ADitdzJITEWKLTQS9PtGS4q5wOSvCpvHvOkmRrevmIZYRx7WokoCBny8uEDNiz81uvCBbKIs6kwEBFTisVz8qKFCL0_WHwok4/s400/s_herman_cover-599x793.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Tattoo by Sean Herman, from the June issue of </i>Holly Rose Review<i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Considering that one-twelfth of the year, Tattoosday sheds its inkspotting  mission and, instead, plays host to tattooed poets in honor of <a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41">National Poetry Month</a>, it only seems fitting that I should pay homage to the final<br />issue of <a href="http://www.hollyrosereview.com/">Holly Rose Review</a>.<br /><br /><i>Holly Rose</i> is the brainchild of <a href="http://www.tacse.blogspot.com/">Theresa Senato Edwards</a> (who herself is <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-theresa-senato.html">a tattooed poet</a>), who has given us four deliciously beautiful online issues that embrace both tattoos and poetry. The online literary 'zine juxtaposes brilliant tattoo work with the poems of an assortment of diverse and talented writers. Each issue bears a theme, and the last (and sadly, final) issue is "Worry".<br /><br />What's unique about <i>Holly Rose</i> is the juxtaposition of poetry and tattoos. It's an illustrated volume, but Edwards assembles poems that not only speak to the theme, but almost seem as if they could be captions to the body art displayed. Issue four features tattoos created by <a href="http://www.tattooartists.org/Gallery.asp?GalleryID=8641">Luba Goldina</a>, <a href="http://www.seanherman.com/">Sean Herman</a> and <a href="http://www.wix.com/MaximeLanouette/dermograph-art/Page-8">Maxime Lanouette</a>. And their work seems to transcend the description "tattoo" as the illustrations serve as works of art that correspond to the themes illuminated by the accompanying poems.<br /><br />But not every poem has a tattoo with it, which is fine, as it makes the appearance of ink more special, and allows the reader to focus on the poetry, as well. An added bonus is the audio player found on some of the<br />poems' pages, so the reader can not only read the poem, but hear it in the author's voice. One page even features a video of the poet reading her work.These added dimensions make <i>Holly Rose</i> a truly magnificent experience.<br /><br />All four issues are currently available for perusal on the website <a href="http://www.hollyrosereview.com/" target="_blank">http://www.hollyrosereview.com</a>. If you're not a fan of poetry, check it out anyway and see some amazing tattoos. Maybe you'll discover some poetry you'll enjoy. Issue four features work from <a href="http://doriannelaux.com/">Dorianne Laux</a>, <a href="http://www.jaynepupek.com/">Jayne Pupek</a> and <a href="http://modernpoet.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=changmingyuan">Changming Yuan</a>. Issue three contains work from <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-christine-hamm.html">Christine Hamm</a> and <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-joseph-millar.html">Joseph Millar</a>, both participants in the 2010 Tattooed Poets Project. Issue two has poetry by Martha Silano and Daphne Lazarus (whose tattoo appeared <a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2010/04/tattooed-poets-project-daphne-lazarus.html">here</a>).<br /><br />It's easy to get lost in the site, admiring great tattoos and reading fabulous poetry, so head on over to Holly Rose and see what a lovely pairing tattoos and poetry make!

A Peek at the Final Issue of Holly Rose Review

 Tattoo by Sean Herman, from the June issue of Holly Rose Review Considering that one-twelfth of the year, Tattoosday sheds its inkspotting ...

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