Stephanie and Benzaiten

Last summer, while shopping at a Cost Plus World Market in Brooklyn, I met Stephanie, who shared this lovely tattoo:

Stephanie explained that this is a depiction of Benzaiten, a Japanese Buddhist goddess, who evolved from the Hindu goddess Saraswati. Stephanie was a liberal arts major and Benzaiten is a guardian of poetry and music. She has eight arms, each with a weapon. Benzaiten stares out from her left arm powerfully.

Stephanie credited the tattoo to the great Darren Rosa (@darrenthedude_tattoos) at Rising Dragon Tattoo (@risingdragontattoos) in Manhattan.

Thanks to Stephanie for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 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.

Richard Georges' Two Goddesses (The Tattooed Poets Project)

Today's tattooed poet is Richard Georges, who is our first contributor ever from the British Virgin Islands. He is sharing some amazing tattoos with us:

Richard tells us:

"I have Saraswati - Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, wisdom, and learning inside my left forearm, and Lakshmi - Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, and prosperity on my right. They were both done (as well as their corresponding sleeves) by Federico Ferroni (@federicoferroni) of Love/Hate Tattoo (@miamiinklovehate) in Miami. I haven't had anything done recently, but I'd definitely go back to him if I decide to get any more work."

Richard also gave us the poem "Exorcism/Freeport," which appeared previously in Cordite Poetry Review in May 2017:

Exorcism / Freeport

when I was eight, a priest came and flicked holy water
into the four corners of this wooden house


that kept my parents, two sons, a daughter,
and a darkening forest in its mouth.


The priest muttered in Latin, crossed us all
with odorous oils, his thumb pausing on


on the bottom of each cross, on the small
space of our foreheads where Christ was hung from.


but the spirits came every night until
my father opened the fowl’s throat like a bible,


the glint of metal washed away in blood,
a beating of black, white and red feather


his hands, the knife, performed their own recital
to feed with one hand, with the other, kill.

~ ~ ~

Richard Georges is the author of the poetry collections Make Us All Islands (Shearsman Books) and GIANT (Platypus Press). He is the recipient of the 2016 Marvin E. Williams Literary Prize from The Caribbean Writer, and has been shortlisted for The Wasafiri New Writing Prize, The Small Axe Literary Prize, The Hollick Arvon Prize for Caribbean Literature, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. You can find him at www.richardgeorges.com.

Thanks to Richard for sharing his tattoos and poetry with us here on 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.

Vincent Impresses with a Hanuman Back Piece (Tattoosday Goes to Philly)

Last weekend at the 20th Annual Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention (@villainarts), I met Vincent, who shared this amazing back piece:

This phenomenal work depicts the Hindu deity Hanuman and was created by tattooist Eric Backlund (@sketchisms) from Skin Illustrations (@skinillustrations) in Cookstown, New Jersey.

I mean, this is just amazing and seeing this kind of masterful work is one of the main reasons one goes to tattoo shows.

Thanks to Vincent for sharing this spectacular back tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 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.

Kelly Shares Some Meaningful Tattoos

Last June I met Kelly across from Federal Hall on Wall Street.

She was visiting from Ohio, and shared several of her tattoos.

First up is this koi:

Kelly explains:

"My older brother took me for my first tattoo when I was eighteen and got this whole party started.  He passed away three years ago and he had this tattooed on his calf, and I knew that I was gonna get one of his tattoos tattooed on me ... koi in Japanese is a homophone, so depending on what context it's used in, the meaning is understood, so it means the fish, obviously, but it also means love and affection, so that's how I chose the one that he had, that's how I picked it."

She also has these lovely flowers on her inner forearms:

Kelly elaborates:

"The writing here I had on both arms first and this [pictured on the right], in Sanskrit, means pratijna, it means a promise or a vow ... it's my promise to do my work in life. And this one [pictured on the left] on my right arm with the purple flowers, it's dharma, which is the principle that, if everyone does their life's work, the universe will come into working order.

And then the two different flowers I have, they're both just different types of flowers, but both named for Joan of Arc."

Lastly, Kelly shared this piece:

She explained that "this one is my feminist fist of revolution with kundalini the snake from Hindu mythology integrating herself in my feminist fist."

She credited all her work to artist Mike Hutton (@mikehutton) from Tattoo Faction (@tattoofaction) in North Olmstead, Ohio.

Thanks to Kelly for sharing her cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2017 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.

Brooke and Josh, Ganesh and Ram

With 2017 upon us, we've still got some stragglers from 2016, but we're also celebrating. Later this year, Tattoosday will be celebrating a landmark. Tattoosday will be Ten!

That's practically venerable in blogyears - and to help celebrate we'll be revisiting some of our old contributors and see what's new on their skin.

She may not realize it, but this celebration of sorts was inspired by Brooke, a friend and former colleague, who first appeared on Tattoosday here in 2007 and again here, in 2008.

Last month Brooke sent me photos of her new tattoo, and her husband Josh's, as well.

Let's check out Brooke's first:

Brooke and Josh got tattooed on a trip to India, so it only seemed fitting that their new body art have deep roots in this wonderful country's culture.

Brooke went into greater detail with me:

"For Me, Ganesh is my favorite deity in Hinduism. He's the remover of obstacles and is known for wisdom. In total, I've now spent 5 weeks in India and felt it would be good to commemorate my time there by getting a tattoo of my favorite idol."

She credited Vikas Milani from Body Canvas Mumbai (@bodycanvastattooart) as the artist that tattooed her Ganesh.

Vikas Milani tattoos Brooke while her husband Josh looks on

As for Josh's new tattoo, check out this beautiful work:

Brooke explained that "Josh loves the story of Lord Rama or 'Ram.' Ram epitomizes everything Josh strives to be: The perfect Husband, Teacher, Son and Brother."

After his tattoo was done, Brooke and Josh hopped in an auto rickshaw with Shyam Waghmare (@shyam_waghmare), his artist, and get professional pictures taken at a photo studio. This is the result, in stunning three-panel perspective:

Brooke estimated that Josh's Ram tattoo took about twenty hours in all.

Thanks to Brooke and Josh for sharing these wonderful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday. And a special thanks to Brooke for being one of our earliest contributors, back when Tattoosday was in its infancy. We're blessed to have Brooke and Josh helping us celebrate our tenth year of publication!

This entry is ©2017 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: K.R. Copeland

Our next tattooed poet is K.R. Copeland:

She tells us,

"I currently have seven tattoos. The two that best represent me, as a human, spiritual being, would be the Om on my left deltoid and the cross on my right (with the word, “Unity” scrolled above.). In my journey through life I have studied and embraced aspects of both Eastern (Hinduism) and Western (Christianity) philosophies. I was baptized a Lutheran, and the word Unity is the literal translation for yoga, of which, I am a regular practitioner."

She credited the work to Bob Garrity, owner and artist at InknUm, Calumet City, Illinois.

She offered up the following poem, in which she "bed[s] down a Hindu deity on the Taj Mahal lawn." She adds that the audio version (https://soundcloud.com/krcopeland/brahma-spoken-word-poem-kr) kicks butt

BRAHMA

Your fingers, weapon-free
read my body

like a brand new Braille Rigveda.
Page by page, you make me

come alive! I am your story,
you’re my sighs.

We halcyon upon
   the Taj Mahal lawn –

glorifying
my-om-I-om-mys .

~ ~ ~

K.R. Copeland is a widely published Chicagoland poet preparing to transplant herself in NYC, where some of her poetry will be included in the off-off-Broadway theatrical production Isolated Incidents, adapted from the book by the same name by Kevin L. Thomas. And, no, street vendors, she does NOT want to buy a watch.

Her book 2057 is here.

Thanks to Ms. Copeland for sharing her tattoos and poetry with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project!

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.