Jeevika Verma - dark, darker (The Tattooed Poets Project)

Our next tattooed poet is Jeevika Verma (@_jeevika), who generously shared several tattoos with us. 

Photo via Instagram

 Jeevika tells us:

"I wrote a poem titled 'dark, darker' in Rome. It was the summer of 2016, and I was part of an intensive one-month creative writing program organized by the University of Washington. I’d spent the month thinking deeply about what it meant to delve deeper into the unknown, and how the truth often exists in what cannot be seen. Plus, I was one of the only POC in my program, and I was constantly aware of how my brownness played into my relationship with my classmates, and my relationship with Europe. I got this tattoo to commemorate my last day in Rome."

She also shared this shot from Instagram above her knee, "alluding to the bray of Sylvia Plath’s heart 'I am, I am, I am' ”:

Photo via Instagram

Jeevika also sent us this photo of her arm, which has several tattoos:

Jeevika elaborates about the four tattoos seen on her left arm above:

" 'this,' is the first tattoo I got. I got it at a shop in Mumbai when I was 18, and just about to start college. I designed it to make it look like it’s part of a larger sentence, like there’s something more to be said before and after the word. 'this,' reminds me to stay in the present. Plus, I love playing with the word 'this'. When people ask me what my favorite tattoo is, I point to it, and say 'this.'

Surrounded by 'this,' are all the the things that help me remember who I am. A full moon rules my zodiac sign, in Cancer. A prickly pear is my soul-plant. Two hands open like wings, together, but each a separate entity."

She credited Randi Ftizpatrick (@probmchild) at Osprey Tattoo (@ospreytattoo) in Seattle with the hands, MKNZ (@ruffenough) from Valentine's Tattoo (@valentinestattoo) in Seattle with the cactus, and Gia (@giactattoo) at Fatty's Tattoos (@fattystattoosandpiercings) in Washington, DC, with the moon tattoo.

Jeevika shared the following poem, "dark, darker," alluded to in the first tattoo above. It was first published in Cleaver Magazine on March 22, 2017:

dark, darker

when I frown

into this mirror

a depth takes

my forehead

inside there is a little white man

sitting straight

working hard

flipping through

pages used unused

these are records

of me fighting gravity

like that one time

I did not kneel before

him

should I find a floor that will not reflect

how my teeth have shattered against it for centuries

like that one time

should I lay a drape over my upright head

the white in my eye has grown very yellow anyway

but the shadow of the obelisk is bent this way

I could grab that neck

twist it so

all the white drips

out

folds

into my lap

and collects

like the sweat

on my bare brown back

away from the mirror

there is no white here

I know

~ ~ ~

Jeevika says we "can also find poet Nikesh Murali's beautiful reading of [the] poem here."

Jeevika Verma is a poet from India with a passion for radical honesty. She graduated from the University of Washington in December 2016 with a B.A. in Creative Writing. Before college, she lived in Cameroon (Yaoundé), which is where she founded her own creative-literary journal Creative Chaos. Her work has been featured in NPR, Kajal Magazine, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Cleaver Magazine, Susie Magazine, and more. She also curated and edited the “Loving” Anthology, as well as five short zines, titled Turns, Cuts, Grate, Long Distance Newsletters, and Scale(s). Find Jeevika’s complete portfolio at jeevikav.com.

Thanks to Jeevika Verma for her contribution to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

If you are reading this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.net 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.

Feeling Crabby at the NYC Tattoo Convention

It's a long story, so I'll cut right to the chase - here's my new tattoo, inked Saturday at the New York City Tattoo Convention:

This tattoo makes me happy, and I am grateful to the good people of Independent Tattoo in Selbyville, Delaware, especially James Delzel (@jdelzel on Instagram) and Tasha Halphen, the shop manager, who helped set it up.

Now, the question, why? Here's the scoop:

This was my eighth year visiting the convention and I've always remembered talking to the crew from Independent who have come to the show. This year James was with Matt Amey, another great artist. Tasha was there last year. But at some point, several years back, a seed was planted. Someone mentioned that they had done a crab event, tattooing crabs a la Friday the 13th flash. Selbyville is in close proximity to Ocean City, Maryland, in the one county in the state where tattooing is illegal. And, well, crabs are quite popular in Maryland. I don't remember the details of the event (or who told me about it), but that stuck with me and I've craved a crab tattoo ever since, so much that it's subsequently come up as a possibility, but never a reality, until this year.

A month or so ago, I was messaging with Tasha and the stars aligned. She mentioned the possibility to James and he was excited to do it. The rest is history.

But, why a crab?

First of all, I remember my mom had these cool oversized astrology postcards when I was growing up. I loved playing with the Cancer card, a bright colorful illustration that featured a crab.

Add to that the fact that no kid grows up in Hawai'i, as I did, without spending time chasing sand crabs on the beach. It was just a part of my childhood that always stuck with me - one that also influenced my tastes. I was never a big seafood fan, but I'm convinced my distaste for crab has more to do with my affinity for the creatures, as opposed to what my actual taste buds tell me.

The design itself was developed by James, with the following image as a starting off point:

That is Scylla Serrata, known also as the mud crab, mangrove cab and, In Hawai'i, the Samoan Crab.

Why this crab? Well, put on a 7-year old's hat, and recognize that Samoan rhymes with Cohen. As a young buy, my active imagination took my astrological sign and merged it with this rhyme, making the Samoan Crab my totem. I even formed a "Samoan Crab Club," a group of friends, all with names given by me: Samoan Dog, Samoan Mouse, and Samoan Goat, to name a few. Silly boyhood stuff.

My father remembers this Samoan Crab business and occasionally reminds me of it, but I thought that was the extent of this long-lost aspect of my childhood, until a book-signing, several years ago. One of my oldest childhood friends, who teaches at a prestigious university and has published several books on cultural affairs (an oversimplification), inscribed his first book to me, "Bill - Samoan Crab!...". He didn't sign it "Samoan Goat," but he might as well have.

Anyway, that's why Scylla Serrata was the basis for my new tattoo. I left the final design up to the artist - they always know best, and it shouldn't surprise people that a lifelike rendering of the Samoan Crab, known for its dark color, would not translate well to skin. I was totally fine with lightening up the design and adding some color that "popped."

On the way to the convention Saturday, James told me that he and Matt had seen someone walking with a crab tattoo and they saw that it was very unreadable from a distance. James told me it was fortuitous encounter, as they saw what didn't work, in that instant, and it helped guide his idea of how to complete the tattoo.

James placed the stencil higher up on the leg, as it just looked better higher up, juxtaposed with the eagle on the side of my calf. 

It is off enough from the height of the opposite leg's tiger, that it is obvious we were not trying to line up the two tattoos.

James is a great tattooer - my legs tend to occasionally twitch unwittingly when getting tattooed, especially when we get into the second hour, but he just "rode it out."

James sizing up the tattoo with an Independent crab mallet (photo by Matt Amey)

So that's the story of my newest tattoo. This crab will keep me happy for many years to come, and I thank, once again, James Delzel and Independent Tattoo for all their good work and friendship over the years!

Be sure to visit them at their website here and, if you're ever looking to get inked in Ocean City, just head north to Delaware and find them in Selbyville!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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 http://tattoosday.blogspot.com 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.