Three Tattoos from Mary: Marilyn Monroe and Robert Frost, Fire and Ice

What jumped out at me when I saw Mary in front of Penn Station, on a drizzly late afternoon during Rush Hour, was this amazing tattoo on her left bicep:Marilyn Monroe tattoos are not incredibly unusual (click here to see those that have appeared on this site previously), but this one strays from the glamorous and dabbles in the tragic.What we see is the back of her head, passed out on a make-up

Vince and a Word from John Keats

I'm a sucker for words.Scrabble, crossword puzzles and, when I find them, words inscribed in flesh.I recently spotted Vince, walking down 32nd Street in Manhattan. I caught up with him after he crossed Broadway, heading east.He has eight tattoos, but I snapped a picture of this one:And why does he have the word Beauty inked on the outside of his right forearm?Vince is an artist and illustrator (

The Tattooed Poets Project: Wrapping Up National Poetry Month

"Alas, I've done the uninkable"-Paul Muldoon, February 3, 2009That was Mr. Muldoon's response to my inquiry, in January, if he was tattooed. I've been wanting to include that somewhere this month, and finally found the spot. Thank you, Mr. Muldoon.As I wrap up National Poetry Month here on Tattoosday and BillyBlog, it all seems a bit unreal. I spent a good quarter of the year, since mid-January,

The Tattooed Poets Project: A Hand for Joy Harjo

Our last tattoo for National Poetry Month comes to us from the wonderful poet Joy Harjo.I was surprised, to be honest, when Joy agreed to participate, because she seemed so busy. Despite the exchange of messages from her, aside from her permission to be a part of the project, I didn't get a lot of detail about the piece she offered. Fortunately for me and, by extension, Tattoosday readers, she

The Tattooed Poets Project: Eileen Myles - "Poet, Take My Measure"

For this, our penultimate post in the April Tattooed Poets Series, we present a tattoo from Eileen Myles.Last week Thursday, I met Eileen on my lunch break at a Starbucks in Union Square. For a blog based on meeting people with tattoos, it was refreshing to sit and chat with a poet in person. It was only the second face-to-face meeting with tattooed poets. All others have been based on e-mail

The Tattooed Poets Project: Ruth Kohtz Shares a Poema

Today's tattoo comes from Ruth Kohtz:Ruth explains:I got the "poema" tattoo on my birthday, November 9, in 2007, by Nik Lensing at Fluid Ink in St. Paul, Minnesota. I made the appointment about 2 hours before I got it, and I had the design all printed out already.I had been out of college for about six months and was struggling with lots of existential "what am I doing?" kind of stuff. I have

The Tattooed Poets Project: Claire Askew's Two Naomis

Today's tattoos come from Claire Askew, a poet and editor who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland:Claire explains:My tattoo was inked by Roberto Seifert, who works out of Herzblut Tattoo in Leipzig, Germany. However, he tattooed me while doing a guest-stint at the fantastic Tattoo Zoo (run by Gerry Kramer) in Victoria, Canada. It was summer 2008 and I originally went into the parlour with my

The Tattooed Poets Project: Rachel McKibbens' Bookish Knuckle Tattoos

Today's tattoos were submitted by Rachel McKibbens, who knows, among others, Cheryl, whose beautiful tattoo, appeared here previously. These are, in fact, the first knuckle tattoos appearing on the Tattooed Poets Project:Rachel, who is almost fully-sleeved, writes:I got this tattoo on April 30th, 2006, at the True Blue Tattoo studio while visiting Austin, TX. [Work from True Blue has appeared on

The Tattooed Poets Project: Cody Todd's Murals - Star Wars and an Interpretive Tribal

Today's tattoos come from Cody Todd, who was referred to me by Carol Muske-Dukes:The first one is a back piece, still in progress:Cody explains this as "a Star Wars mural--the Millenium Falcon in front of a meteor pursued by a TIE Fighter, from The Empire Strikes Back with the specter of Boba Fett looming above the chase." He credits an artist named Skip (since retired) at Old World Tattoo in

The Tattooed Poets Project: Dese'Rae Stage and Some Poetic Tulips

Last Wednesday (April 15), I was trying to distract myself from having my back tattooed, when my BlackBerry chirped and I found a wonderful e-mail in my inbox. A poet and photographer named Dese'Rae Stage had graced me with some photos of a few of her fifteen tattoos. What follows is my favorite of those pieces:The first piece is based on Sylvia Plath's poem "Tulips":The poem is below, with the

The Tattooed Poets Project: Nathan Logan's Tattoo Punctuates the Flesh

Today's tattoo was generously donated by Nathan Logan, who presents a tattoo on his left arm:Nathan explains:This tattoo was a gift to myself for getting into graduate school. I wanted to get a line of poetry, but the options overwhelmed me. I couldn't decide. So after giving it some thought, I chose my favorite punctuation mark, which can be found in many lovely poems and pieces of prose. I

The Tattooed Poets Project: Cheryl Maddalena's Beautiful Tattoo

Today's Tattooed Poet is Cheryl Maddalena. Cheryl is a performance poet from Boise, Idaho.Although the photo above is small, the tattoo is big, bold and beautiful.Cheryl writes:"It had occurred to me, as a performance poet, that I could never read other poets' tattoos from the audience. Mine is 200 point lowercase Times New Roman, the same font as all my poetry but a larger size."The tattoo was

The Tattooed Poets Project: Mike Sikkema's Tattoo Blends Natural with Mechanical

Today's tattooed poet is Mike Sikkema, a friend of Gina Myers (whose tattoo appeared here), who sent him my way. His piece is not fully completed, but it is still completely interesting:Mike explains the piece:Eva Huber began my birds at Divine Machine Tattoo in Buffalo, NY, in the fall of 2008. The combination of real and chrome apples, of real and mechanical birds points at where we’re at: the

The Tattooed Poets Project: Rebecca Loudon's Bee Tattoo

The following tattoo was submitted by the poet Rebecca Loudon:The tattoo was inspired by her favorite poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William Butler Yeats:The Lake Isle of Innisfree I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall

The Tattooed Poets Project: Malaika King Albrecht Shares Her "Unambitious," Yet Meaningful, Tattoo

Today's tattoo was submitted by Malaika King Albrecht:I contacted Malaika on Facebook when I saw her profile photo, and that she had a visible tattoo. She was kind enough to not only accept my friend request, but also to submit the photo above, along with one of her poems, over on BillyBlog.Malaika filled me in on this piece:I may have gotten this tattoo, my second one, at Shaw’s [Tattoo Studio]

The Tattooed Poets Project: Jackie Sheeler's Swirling Tribal Tattoos

Today's tattooed poet is Jackie Sheeler. The photos she sent me were taken by one of her friend's daughters, who utilized Jackie as one of her subjects in a photography project about tattooed New Yorkers.Jackie explains:"I have just two pieces, if by “piece” you mean connected & thematic. I didn’t get them all at once, though.The big one on my left shoulder was done all at once by an artist named

The Tattooed Poets Project: Gina Myers and Her Colorful Gypsy

Today's Tattooed Poet is Gina Myers, who offered up this beautiful traditional gypsy piece:Gina provided me the following commentary to accompany the tattoo:"Sharing tattoos in this public forum is a little strange for me. I used to keep my tattoos covered when visiting family or working, and have only recently felt comfortable in the office at my current job letting them show. I tell my

The Tattooed Poets Project: Caroline Malone's Trio of Intimate Tattoos

Today's tattooed poet is Caroline Malone. She was kind enough to offer not one, but three, of her tattoos for our enjoyment.Here they are, in her own words:"Alien cat was my first tattoo in 2006.I had always told myself I would never get a tattoo, but then I met someone, someone who turned out to be my sweetheart, who had a tattoo for each of her three novels, and I thought, what a great way to

The Tattooed Poets Project: Tess. Lotta's Tree Has Her Back

Today's tattoo comes to us from Tess. Lotta, a poet and editor of Media Cake eMagazine. She was referred to me by Rick Lupert over at the Poetry Super Highway:Ms. Lotta had this piece tattooed "around 1998-99". She noted that, "it took awhile, as it was painful along the spine".She continues explaining the piece:"...Most of my work, including this back piece, is done by my dear friend Owen

The Tattooed Poets Project: Whitman's Song on Michael Mayo's Chest

Today's tattooed poet has a poetry tattoo. Michael Mayo was referred to me by the poet Dorianne Laux, who taught Michael at North Carolina State University.Michael Mayo has "I celebrate myself and sing myself" tattooed on his chest, honoring the opening line of Walt Whitman's iconic poem "Song of Myself":I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom