The Tattooed Poets Project: Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

In the first post of this year's Tattooed Poets Project (<a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/2011/04/tattooed-poets-project-vicki-iorio.html">here</a>), Vicki Iorio described watching today's tattooed poet, <a href="http://www.tammynuzzomorgan.com/">Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan</a>, recite verse while being tattooed. Here is that tattoo, along with some others:<br /><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/AVvXsEg6V6mCiZ053O5p09ZHkusW4vjXI23Y88ldsipwart27AbyB84ilgoRCBDzsDdVmILEuwUyVh0HOiW29C3ueA7OdBBvRW4YFnBH_C9esFRDDcRiiYsSD24ZoVShtOFk1m0VR-rTP5C-x7E/s1600/Tammy+poet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6V6mCiZ053O5p09ZHkusW4vjXI23Y88ldsipwart27AbyB84ilgoRCBDzsDdVmILEuwUyVh0HOiW29C3ueA7OdBBvRW4YFnBH_C9esFRDDcRiiYsSD24ZoVShtOFk1m0VR-rTP5C-x7E/s400/Tammy+poet.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph by Mark Wells</td></tr></tbody></table>The word "poet" in the center of the back is self-explanatory and was inked by Syxx, at <a href="http://www.wyldchyldstudios.com/">Wyld Chyld Tattoo Studio</a>. Above that is the name "Joey," who is Tammy's husband. That was done by an artist named Kenny at a shop called Z Connection. The piece on the right is a rose, with the names of Tammy's three children and their birth dates, inked by Bob at <a href="http://www.tattoolous.com/#">Tattoo Lou's</a> on Long Island. Dave at Tattoo Lou's also did the memorial cross for Tammy's son Mike, who was killed in 1995. Tammy also has this tattoo on her foot:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwtbi7ccv2jnyXD48rwBPFs0OVKAPhNfi23b86gXNATt9uvYOP368wmcqABGioCYKVinIRm24dvky7Y5jnQO6TcjnKxZEgB7IISJvuF9Iz6uMap9bQqeRpb5CWi-l3KEFgEbDGxcYxd8/s1600/cat+paw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwtbi7ccv2jnyXD48rwBPFs0OVKAPhNfi23b86gXNATt9uvYOP368wmcqABGioCYKVinIRm24dvky7Y5jnQO6TcjnKxZEgB7IISJvuF9Iz6uMap9bQqeRpb5CWi-l3KEFgEbDGxcYxd8/s400/cat+paw.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />That cat paw is for Tammy's cat, Maude, who passed away last October 10, and was done by Jimmy at Wyld Chyld.<br /><br />Tammy also shared some of her poetry:<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">POEM#6<br /><br />I am not the coca cola girl, <br />the Cheez-It tidbit waiting for you to taste, <br />the limo ride to the Yankee’s game, <br />the wrangler jeans chick baking in the New Mexico sun, <br />and I never was or will be Sunday mornings in spring.<br /><br />I am the time-ticking-away second hand, <br />the flat tire on the side of the road, <br />the too high door jam, <br />the worn-out tooth brush, <br />the 59 cents in the ashtray, <br />the Lunch Poems dog-eared book, <br />and the who never forgets to tell the truth.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">SPOONS <br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">I remember when you spoon-fed me ice-cream as we lay in bed on that rainy afternoon<br />and the way your fingers tasted and your neck had a hint of sweat and I closed my eyes<br />and you drove away the dark and I called your name in a low, soft moan.<br /><br />I remember when you spooned sugar into your morning tea on that sunny Tuesday</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />and I watched you drink as if you were a foreign film I could not understand<br />and your smile told me my poetry made you hunger for more than a nine-to-five life.<br /><br />I remember when you spooned dirt into the flower pot and filled it with mums for me</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />and I was peeking out the window seeing you bent down working away humming<br />and I decided then that I was not who I wanted to be without you in my days and nights<br /><br />And I remember how after you left I packed away all the silverware, including those</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />spoons and I gave the box to the Salvation Army, hoping for some salvation of my own<br />and I drove away from our town knowing I would never see another sunset like you.</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan is a very busy woman. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">She was appointed </span><a href="http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Suffolk</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">County</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> Poet Laureate for 2009 – 2011. She is founder and president of <a href="http://www.tammynuzzomorgan.com/north.htm">The North Sea Poetry Scene, Inc.</a> and The North Sea Poetry Scene Press. She was nominated for Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her poetry book, <i>Let Me Tell You Something</i>. She is<br />listed in <a href="http://www.pw.org/">Poets & Writers</a>, has penned 4 chapbooks, is Poet-in-Residence at </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1201664158"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Southampton</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.southamptonhistoricalmuseum.org/"> Historical Museum</a>, an adjunct Professor at </span><a href="http://www.briarcliffe.edu/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Briarcliffe</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">College</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">, the editor of the </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1201664165"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Long Island</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.poets.org/viewevent.php/prmEventID/5636"> Sounds Anthology</a>. She hosts TNSPS’s Arts Forum TV Show on Channel 20 on Cablevision in Riverhead, N.Y. and serves as the Lead Poetry Jurist for the <a href="http://www.eastendarts.org/">East End Arts Council</a>, Riverhead, N.Y.<br /><br />Currently, Tammy is creating an archival/arts center (</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><a href="http://www.lipoetryarchivalcenter.com/" target="_blank">www.lipoetryarchivalcenter.com</a>)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> for </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Long Island</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> poetry that will be a gathering place for poets. She is also currently working toward an M.F.A. at </span><a href="http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/southampton/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Southampton</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Stony</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Brook</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">University</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks to Tammy for sharing her work, both written and tattooed, here on Tattoosday!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><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 style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

In the first post of this year's Tattooed Poets Project ( here ), Vicki Iorio described watching today's tattooed poet, Tammy Nuzzo-...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Lorraine Conlin

Today's tattooed poet is Lorraine Conlin, one of several Long Island wordsmiths featured this month on the Tattooed Poets Project.<br /><br />Lorraine offers up this beautiful tattoo on the upper right side of her back:<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/AVvXsEhlNAXpxoaO54AdHnvDxvaAbKHL3tRPhZjdicr0b-sa7-YiP0TDWfTUWhNKiqqzm-aq35zMyjQvftcqq5bxyj4LCHsVvC5gpjVFIH6WeL8Rb7EqCkoocvlTBme4o_YoPYOZTZjgIzSPv6g/s1600/La+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNAXpxoaO54AdHnvDxvaAbKHL3tRPhZjdicr0b-sa7-YiP0TDWfTUWhNKiqqzm-aq35zMyjQvftcqq5bxyj4LCHsVvC5gpjVFIH6WeL8Rb7EqCkoocvlTBme4o_YoPYOZTZjgIzSPv6g/s640/La+.jpg" width="486" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Lorraine Conlin</td></tr></tbody></table>Lorraine gives us the background of this lovely La:<br /><blockquote>"My first and only tattoo (so far), was self-designed with a bit of enhancement by <i>Syxx,</i> of <a href="http://wyldchyldstudios.com/"><b>Wyld Chyld</b> <b>Tattoo</b></a> in Merrick, NY, where I co-host poetry events in their adjoining café.  <i>La</i> is the Lilliputianized form of my original nickname, <i>Lala.</i>  Before I said Mama or Dada, as most babies do, I uttered <i>Lala</i> and from that day forward, my family referred to me as their “little Lala”.  </blockquote><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><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/AVvXsEiVxuy9NmU4Dt0EQLwhCbP1uui1x5r94FWRqYWozsg4PQ6x04ZbcNPsKxd-KjhRfI28jtLnvawjdUBFvkywHb4UDefYl2dQ6cl6u71vEK1pd5YF-lZrCaT8MIdwdvsuII-wSUGaNlklTwc/s1600/La+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVxuy9NmU4Dt0EQLwhCbP1uui1x5r94FWRqYWozsg4PQ6x04ZbcNPsKxd-KjhRfI28jtLnvawjdUBFvkywHb4UDefYl2dQ6cl6u71vEK1pd5YF-lZrCaT8MIdwdvsuII-wSUGaNlklTwc/s400/La+detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Lorraine Conlin</td></tr></tbody></table>The name stayed with me and friends and business associates starting calling me “<i>La</i>”.  While hosting the open mic at Wyld Chyld Tattoo & Café, I met <a href="http://www.myspace.com/obrien6"><i>Syxx</i></a>, (Raymond Obrien) who is with the Metal Group, “<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Saints-of-Pain/137974834137?sk=wall">The Saints of Pain</a>”.  He signed up to read one night and read something he had written.  We started talking and I asked if I had any ink.  I told him I was afraid of infection and I was allergic to lots of foods and meds. He asked me which ones and when I said sulfur, he said I could get any colors except yellow or any that had yellow in their composition.  He was so reassuring, knowledgeable and gentle that I went home that night and started thinking about what to get and where I wanted it.  I sketched it out and brought him the sketch.  We made a date, he made the stencil and the rest is history." </div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">Lorraine was kind enough to share this poem with us:<span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;">A Wannabe Fantasy</span></b></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="NoSpacing">I told my shrink I wannabe a back warmer</div><div class="NoSpacing">sit on a bitch pad behind a biker guy</div><div class="NoSpacing">wrap my arms round his ape-hanger grip</div><div class="NoSpacing">straddle his bar-hopper bike on Friday nights</div><div class="NoSpacing">ride with a big bearded chromosexual guy </div><div class="NoSpacing">cruise the big road to nowhere…</div><div class="NoSpacing">I wanna goggle the horizon -- eat asphalt</div><div class="NoSpacing">let my puppies hang loose </div><div class="NoSpacing">wear black leather chaps</div><div class="NoSpacing">and a purple skid lid</div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">“I don’t think you do.” He said</div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">Yes, I do</div><div class="NoSpacing">I love bikers</div><div class="NoSpacing">especially the B.U.G.s</div><div class="NoSpacing">the bigger, uglier the guy</div><div class="NoSpacing">the harder they try</div><div class="NoSpacing">the better they make me feel</div><div class="NoSpacing">told him I rode hard and long with a few</div><div class="NoSpacing">before these confession sessions </div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">He said. “We have to stop now.” </div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">I found a new therapist</div><div class="NoSpacing">she loves to listen </div><div class="NoSpacing">to my biker-chick fantasies</div><div class="NoSpacing">rides along with me</div><div class="NoSpacing">always asks</div><div class="NoSpacing">“How does that make you feel”…</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div class="NoSpacing">Lorraine Conlin is a US Customs Broker at <a href="http://www.panynj.gov/airports/jfk.html">JFK Airport</a>. She is on the BOD of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Long-Island-Poetry-Collective/253009005395?sk=info">The Long Island Poetry Collective</a>, hosts “Tuesdays With Poetry” for <a href="http://poetsinnassau.blogspot.com/">Poets in Nassau</a>, and co-hosts for <a href="http://www.performancepoets.org/">PerformancePoets Association</a> at <a href="http://www.yourli.com/Wyld-Chyld-Tattoo---Cafe/7312044">Wyld Chyld Tattoo & Café</a> in Merrick, LINY. Her work has been published in PPA Literary Review(s), <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewevent.php/prmEventID/5636">LongIsland Sounds Anthology(s)</a>.  Lorraine initiated and hosts <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152641658121666">Super Poem Sunday</a>, where folks gather to celebrate the sport of poetry on Super Bowl Sunday.  She is also the founder of the Long Island Poets for Darfur.  Lorraine is currently working on her first book of poems. </div><br />Thanks to Lorraine for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: xx-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: xx-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>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Lorraine Conlin

Today's tattooed poet is Lorraine Conlin, one of several Long Island wordsmiths featured this month on the Tattooed Poets Project. Lorra...

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The Tattooed Poets Project: Vicki Iorio

We're kicking off this year's Tattooed Poets Project with a tattoo that seems, ahem, apropos-etic:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhinEQU2zm4Sr7TYdyLq8c_pJ7wLv5lUVrTKgBPOJn2NVIH6IvWIsSNfc8UdxNAui0hm1_b4n3JKhZXp8vh0oc2TjZoEqKhyphenhyphenlQhx1CTeC2oD4XXh5eMO7xjwefTzLIwX6srVA0ofqHa2kk/s1600/Poet+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhinEQU2zm4Sr7TYdyLq8c_pJ7wLv5lUVrTKgBPOJn2NVIH6IvWIsSNfc8UdxNAui0hm1_b4n3JKhZXp8vh0oc2TjZoEqKhyphenhyphenlQhx1CTeC2oD4XXh5eMO7xjwefTzLIwX6srVA0ofqHa2kk/s400/Poet+c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This poetic foot belongs to Vicki Iorio, a New York poet. She explains the tattoo:<br /><br /><blockquote>"My group of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island">Long Island</a> poets have the pleasure of reading at the <a href="http://wyldchyldstudios.com/">Wyld Chyld Cafe and Tattoo Parlor</a> in Merrick, NY. I watched <a href="http://www.tammynuzzomorgan.com/">Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan</a>, the poet laureate of Suffolk County get "poet" tattooed across her shoulder blades. [Tammy will be appearing on the site later this month.] She recited poetry while her back was bleeding, I knew at that moment I would have to get one! </blockquote><blockquote>It was a cold January night, Sixx tattooed my right foot with a beautiful scripted "poet." It was a beautiful moment and I love my tat and all it signifies. A slew of woman poets have been tattooed by Sixx. A tattooed sisterhood, indeed."</blockquote>Here is a poem from Vicki:<br /><br /><blockquote><b>Tattoo 56</b><br /><b> </b> <br />I will get a tattoo next birthday<br />no one will care<br />it won't be like birthday 13<br />when I dyed my hair purple on a shoplift heist<br />shaved off eyebrows<br />pierced frozen ears with a needle<br />hacked off bushy black fur under stockings<br /><br />I will find an illustrated man<br />his head bald and shiny<br />eyes so blue I will see straight through<br />to his good heart, diamond stud in one ear<br />massive arms shocking to the touch.<br /><br />My spider will go willingly to his fly.<br />I will tell him what I want<br />where I want it.<br /><br />After validating plastic worth,<br />my pirate will lead me to his table<br />gift me with little hurts<br />celebrate me electrically<br />wrap me in gauze<br />sing the praises of Bacitracin<br />wish me a happy birthday.<br /><br /></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Vicki Iorio is a Long Island poet who hangs around tattoo parlors. Her poems have been published in various publications including <a href="http://www.outsiderwriters.org/archives/6288">hell strung and crooked</a>. She is saving up for another tattoo!<br /><br />Thanks to Vicki for sharing her poetic tattoo and tattoo poem with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.<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: xx-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>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Vicki Iorio

We're kicking off this year's Tattooed Poets Project with a tattoo that seems, ahem, apropos-etic: This poetic foot belongs to Vicki...

Read more »