Kevin's Tree of Gondor

Over the summer, I met Kevin on Wall Street, and he shared this tattoo:

Kevin explained:

"This is the tree of Gondor from The Lord of the Rings ... A lot of people are like, 'Is that a tree of life' and I'm like, 'no no no.' It's blossoming so that means the king has returned. [The stars represent] the seven kingdoms of man ... and [the crown at the top of the tree] is the king and the tree is like, in Tolkien literature ... a mythical tree ... I got it because I was failing high school, I was doing bullshit teenage stuff and my teacher bet me if I could write a 20-page paper with the primary source of The Lord of the Rings (because at that time [the movie] was coming out), she would pass me for the whole year in English class. And I found a primary source, and I got the paper, twenty pages, very concise, very collegiate for a high school kid and she reluctantly had to give me an A, she was like, 'this is actually one of the best things I've seen in like five years."

He had this done at Chicago Tattoo in Chicago, Illinois.

Thanks to Kevin for sharing his cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

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Maddie's Japanese Elm

Earlier this month, I met Maddie in downtown Manhattan on Broad Street after I spotted her foot tattoo:

Maddie got this about eight years ago and doesn't remember the artist's name. She also did not remember the name of the shop, although based on her description of the location, it was most likely The Chicago Tattooing Company.

The tattoo depicts a Japanese Maple tree. "I went in wanting to get an oak," she explained, "but I was sort of convinced by the artist [to get the maple] and I'm really happy with it, with the green on it and everything."
She also told me that the tree pertains to her grandmother, and chose not to elaborate, as it is a family thing.

We don't always get a story, but at least we get to appreciate the tattoo!

Thanks to Maddie for sharing her lovely tree tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Aaron DeLee

Our next tattooed poet is Aaron DeLee:

Aaron tell us:

"I spent over 99 hours and 99 minutes of my life playing Final Fantasy 7; that's as far as the timer goes in the game. It was integral to my upbringing during adolescence (specifically, at 14), exposing me to gay characters and cross-dressing when I didn't have much of a concept for such things. It was a platform that helped me feel powerful, whereas I otherwise felt powerless at that point in my life. It made its mark on me so deeply emotionally, and so, after getting myself out into the world, I decided to show that mark. I had the album art for the game tattooed in March 2008 at the Chicago Tattoo & Piercing Co."

Aaron sent us the following poem:

Selfie: Inked

Must it have a story, like a scar or scare?
Once upon it was a crime to mark oneself

and my father promised punishment for such rash
actions, black impulse. So, I drew

my own illusions and came to the collusion
that these bodies were made to be seen,

made to be word, and image. Imagine meta-
phor made flesh, for there is depth to it

like layers of skin, invariably shedding end-
lessly. This was no rebellion. This was Final.

A fantasy come ado by bustling commotion
from needles knitting for years from inside

my skull until manhood bled through; when I was
my own and, with inerasable ink, wrote so.

~ ~ ~

Aaron DeLee is a Chicago poet. His poems have appeared in Court Green, Assaracus, Mad Hatter's Review, and various other publications. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University in 2013. He is currently training for his second Tough Mudder with his husband.

Thanks to Aaron for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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 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.

Crystal's Ice-Bat and Gloomy Bear (with a Nod to The Academy Is)

These tattoos, belonging to Crystal, date back to an encounter I had with her on the R train in Brooklyn back in June. She has 14 tattoos, and first shared this one, on her inner right forearm:

What is this? I'll let Crystal explain:

“It’s an Ice-Bat  [one of the Uglydolls] with the words ‘Dream of demons / while you sleep / that make you / stutter / when you speak’ – they’re lyrics from a song [“Down and Out”] by The Academy Is, a Chicago band. My best friend and I actually have the same words, different design on her arm. We met in Chicago … it’s kind of a way to show our support for the band but also for our friendship to each other.”  

Incidentally, The Academy Is announced just last week that, after eight years, they were breaking up.


This piece was done at The Chicago Tattooing and Piercing Company, but Crystal doesn't recall the name of the artist who did the tattoo.


She also shared this chest piece:

Again, Crystal explains it best:

 “I got started on it when I was 19 and I was in Atlanta and had just started college and went through a rebellious phase. … I’m in love with the main character which is Gloomy Bear … Gloomy Bear is kind of the doll that controls the boy…..”

More on Gloomy Bear can be learned on its designer Mori Chack's wikipedia page.

Thanks to Crystal for sharing her ink with us here on Tattoosday!


Here's a little bonus, The Academy Is performing "Down and Out" at an in-store event:

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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 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.