Four Tattoos from Halee Kirkwood (The Tattooed Poets Project)

Our next tattooed poet is Halee Kirkwood, who sent us a quartet of tattoos to admire, including this one:

Halee credits this to Lana Bosak (@lanalikescats) at Tailorbird Tattoo (@tailorbirdtattoo), one of many amazing Minneapolis tattoo parlors. She notes:

"I was drawn to this raven on an antler as a poet who writes a lot about death, grief, and scavenging. Ravens are incredibly intelligent birds with the ability to adapt and problem-solve to an astounding capacity. Even when it seems that a thing has rotten, there might be nourishment to be found there. I try to embody the strength and cleverness of the raven every day."

They also sent this cool cat tattoo:

Halee tells us:

"This little kitty was a flash tattoo I snatched up in the summer of 2018. I was feeling frustrated with cars in the Twin Cities - I am an avid city biker and have had more than my fair share of cars driving dangerously and close to me when I'm in a bike lane, and felt a kinship with the feral attitude of the design. I was also amused by the fact that the tattoo had tattoos itself, and one of them was a dagger close in resemblance to the two swords I have on my bicep [below]. When I ride my bike on the busy downtown streets, I look at this kitty and think of braveness, the ferocity sometimes needed to survive, and then I get to where I'm going."

They also sent along this floral piece:

Halee notes:

This tattoo was also a flash - I am a very spontaneous person, both in tattoo habits and in my poetry practice. I like to grow into the meaning of a tattoo, and think about what a flash design means to me over time after that initial and immediate attraction. Something I feel a little shame about is that I don't know what kind of flowers these actually are - neither does the tattoo artist, as she designs a lot of her tattoos from vintage botany books, but I am beginning not to mind. I have found it fun to ask people who ask about the flowers what they think they are, and a conversation rolls from there! When I look at the flowers now, I think of the trio of myself, my little sister, and my little brother, and think of all the ways we have bloomed from the rocky soil we were given to grow out of.

Thank you to Andy Jacobs (@buffaloalicetattoo) and Minneapolis Tattoo (@mplstattoo) for the sweet floral!

And last, but not least, is the aforementioned swords tattoo:

Halee tells us:

These swords were my first tattoo, and coincidentally the only tattoo I have that isn't a flash piece! This is an adaptation of the Two of Swords tarot card, which I drew at a critical juncture in my life. I was faced with two choices - continue to live and write in the small town of Ashland, WI, which I love and pine after often, or move to the Twin Cities and pursue an MFA in creative writing. Both options seemed to have an equal amount of pros and cons, and I had to make a decision quickly. The Two of Swords asks the querent to break the binds which hold them to their swords, go with their intuition, and make a hard break. Make that damn decision. So I decided to move from small town Wisconsin and into the big city, where I still am today and am on the cusp of finishing my graduate degree. My swords are a reminder that sometimes you just have to make a decision, no matter how equal some choices might seem.

Thank you to Skin Candy Tattoo in Racine, WI for the ink!

In addition to the tattoos, Halee also shared the following poem:

Hennepin Moon

Caught between light rail crosshairs moon

Wearing earrings for the first time in ten years moon

Woolen skirt city moon

Split button moon

Cold ass on the concrete moon

Tobacco emporium moon

There’s no more snow in Minneapolis moon

for my favorite moon hard crust on the snow moon

Sore throat moon

Expensive dog with cheap sweater moon

Do people ignore me because they hear me

whisper to myself whisper to myself moon

Spit at my feet moon

Razor blade bridge walk over river moon

Indigo night steam lilting over carp moon

Give it all back moon

Follow you forever moon

~ ~ ~

Halee Kirkwood is a descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and nearly has their MFA degree from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their work has been published or is forthcoming in Up The Staircase Quarterly, Muzzle Magazine, ctrl+v, Pinwheel Journal, Cream City Review, and others. Kirkwood was the associate editor of Runestone Journal, is a writing mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, and was a teaching fellow for the 2019 Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference at Arizona State University. Their mini-chapbook, Exorcising The Catalogue, is available from Rinky Dink Press.

Thanks to Halee for sharing their tattoos and poetry with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2019 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.

Sarah and her Snow White Sleeve

I met Sarah on the F train, last month, en route from Manhattan to Brooklyn. When we both got off at Borough Hall to transfer to our respective trains, we chatted a bit and she consented to me snapping a few photos. Check out her sleeve:

That's Snow White, of course, "the first story I was obsessed with," Sarah told me, noting that her first Halloween costume, hand-sewn by her mother, was also that of the fairy tale character.

The details in the sleeve are really amazing. I particularly love the raven:

Sarah credited the work to artist Matt Buck (@he_draws), who started the line work when he was still at Sacred Tattoo (@sacredtattoonyc), in Manhattan. He finished it up at his current shop, No Idols Tattoo (@noidolsnyc).

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

This entry is ©2016 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: Kirsten Imani Kasai

As we enter into the final weekend of yet another successful month of tattooed poets, take a look at the back of Kirsten Imani Kasai:

Kirsten tells us:

"My work is three separate pieces. The first, on the back of my neck, is a Byzantine monogram of 'Mary,' for the Virgin Mary. I had this done in 1993 at Erno Tattoo in San Francisco.

The raven tree and stars were done by in 2011 and 2013. My friend Keith Greene, at Federation Ink in San Diego, did both based on some clip art paste-ups I brought him. The bird tattoo has a double meaning. I’m rather Poe-obsessed, and so here are the Raven and the Tell-Tale Heart. At least that’s what I tell strangers…for me, this piece recognizes a really dreadful, difficult year of loss, transition and heartbreak. (I wrote about it here. Additionally, I wrote the poem 'a murder of crows' about this imagery of the raven and the gift of a human heart, which was incorporated into the prose/poetry piece 'mice' published in the summer 2014 issue of the Existere Journal of Arts & Literature.)

The third tattoo is my 'mother line' and features blue and pink stars for my son and daughter. The dead or shadow stars represent pregnancies I've lost."

Kirsten sent us the following poem:

process aestivation

she had forgotten all of it

too long

had she lain sleeping

snow white

knew the apple tainted

bit deeply

seeking poison like nectar

sleeping beauty

summoned the spindle’s

narcotic draught

milk teeth madly grinning

blood beading on her finger

she swallowed

the magicked bread

despite the warnings

—never eat from fey hands—

let the fisherman

steal her selkie skin

to keep her from the deep

and salted sea

buried undreaming

apple rotting in her throat

blood clotting in her veins

watching

night’s noiseless apocalypse

descend

              awakened

                             she is ravenous

~ ~ ~

Kirsten Imani Kasai is the author of three novels: Ice Song, Tattoo and Private Pleasures; a short fiction/poetry collection Rhapsody in Snakeskin and a poetry chapbook The Atmospheric Mysteries of a Steaming Corpse. Kirsten is the co-founder and editor of Body Parts Magazine, a journal of provocative horror, spec fiction and erotica. She earned her MFA from Antioch University and lives in California with her family. Visit her online at www.IceSong.com and on Facebook here.

Some bonus footage includes this Google chat interview & reading with Pretty Owl Poetry:

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

This entry is ©2015 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Natasha Head

It's at this point of April, halfway through, when I realize I have too many poets and not enough days. So we're going to try and squeeze some extra poets in when we can.

That said, today's second poet hails from north of the border. Welcome Natasha Head, who sent me two tattoos.

Natasha tells us:

"Poetry...it has dictated my dreams and, it has dictated my tattoos. Add a sense of cheeseball and cherry blossoms, and the inspiration for my designs is a well that is endless.

I was 16 when I first went under the gun...many, many years ago, where I sacrificed my shoulder to the classic and predictable clawing, black panther. It was quick, painful, and the result of flash designs that covered the hole in the wall I had snuck into. They weren't incredibly vigilant in their ID checking.

The evolution of technology and the inevitable aging meant my designs were also able to evolve. Being introduced to an amazing artist didn't hurt either."

Natasha shared this piece:

Natasha adds:

"Erin Pettipas [from Erinink Tattoos in Halifax, Nova Scotia] has helped me realize my two favorite pieces I am sharing here today. A tiger, honoring my favorite poem by William Blake, is also the inspiration for the short poem I've included. And of course, The Raven, designed by Erin. What wannabe poet doesn't have a love for Poe's dark, classic tale?"

Natasha concludes:

"My canvas grows smaller with every new piece, but the desire for fresh ink is as addicting as that blank piece of paper just begging for a pen. The journey is far from over...and I've yet to find a better cover up for age spots."

Here's the aforementioned Blake-inspired poem:

My Tyger

Born in the year of the tiger,
branded by Blake while young.
In the forest of the night, self discovered rage, held in and contained.
No matter how I choose to disfigure this bag of bones,
skin as canvas, a story to tell.
Would you believe I've been through hell,
and still I've strength to sell.
It all comes back to the poetry...
did he who made the lamb make me?

~ ~ ~

Natasha Head is a Canadian Poet presently living & writing in Northern Ontario. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, received a Pushcart Prize nomination and has been featured as the Poem of the Day at the Academy of American Poets. She is presently completing her fourth collection and planning her next tattoo. Her books can be found on her author page on Amazon here. Visit her on Facebook here.
Her website is http://Tashtoo.com.

Thanks to Natasha for sharing her cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Senia Hardwick

Our next tattooed poet is Senia Hardwick:

Senia explained that her "tattoo relates to a lot of similar themes and feelings to that of my work, though in and of itself it is not literary." She adds, "I tend to write poetry that explores the transmutation of feelings and experience into landscapes and vice versa."

She elaborated more:

"I got this done at [Dare] Devil Tattoo in SoHo. I had been wanting to get a tattoo of a raven for a while, and volunteered at a book store around the corner. I saw a handcrafted notebook we were selling with a depiction or a raven on it and I had an intrinsic sense that today would be the day I got my tattoo. I texted my girlfriend at the time and told her to meet me when my shift ended. I looked through a few pages of raven pictures and picked one whose shape spoke to me. I wanted it to be a bit more stylized but mostly realistic. The most important detail to me though was the eye, a spiral.

I chose the raven as a symbol of intelligence and wisdom. Ravens as creatures are smart enough to open velcro and buttons, mimic speech, and play pranks on each other. Metaphysically, ravens are thought to be omens, messengers, and purveyors of hard truths. They are a symbol of Odin, who hung from Yggdrasil and gained knowledge of the runes and enlightenment in exchange. The spiral within its eye is both an infinite void and a sign of its magical acumen."

Senia sent us the following poem, as well:

No Life King

In the land of princes I was the no life king.
In the land of shadows I was the tangled tree roots.
In the land of churches I was the raven

perched atop steeples that cried into the night.
I was there and the darkness eddied around me.
In the land of stars I was a burned out candle.

I'm sorry that the riddles have empty answers.
I could reach through the earth and feel every heartbeat.
When I exhaled, fog rolled forth. The winds cut through me

like no sword ever could. In the land of drowning
I was a swamp. The darkness eddied around me.
When I screamed trees shot from the ground. Past the hills

men watched from iron houses as I laid waste to their lands.
When I ate their horses none of them found the strength to cry.
I'm sorry the gristle ran down my face. I'm sorry the birds

never let you get close. In the land of desire I was a pear tree.
When I laughed moths turned from the moon. The sea
was hungry and it was the only option.

When I was young, life was as short as my excuses.
I'm sorry everything turns back to dirt.
I'm sorry there's more meat than reasons.

I'm sorry the dead only talk in a whisper. I'm sorry their secrets all end the same way.
I knew the graveyard was no place for oak trees. Wherever I land
everyone cries. I'm sorry apologies are never enough.

~ ~ ~

Senia Hardwick is a young poet living out of the NY metro area. They have been previously
published in Collective Fallout (Volume 5 No 1) which is available for free online at
http://collectivefallout.net/.

Thanks to Senia for sharing the poem and tattoo 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.

Oscar's Quartet of Tattoos

Born in Costa Rica, a one-time resident of Canada, and now a denizen of the Bronx, Oscar has traveled all over the world.

He expressed his passion for mountain biking to me as we talked in the Amtrak section of Penn Station.

This made sense to me as I had noticed his bike-themed tattoo on his left calf:


The wheel is specific to a mountain bike he owns, and it is connected around the back of his leg by a bicycle chain:


The detail is quite good, almost three-dimensional, and the tribal flourishes up and down the leg add volume to the piece.

This was his first tattoo, inked on his birthday, after many years of thinking about tattoos. He waited until he was ready, so that he could get something with deep meaning for him.

Since then, he has added three other tattoos, all created by Richard at Jent's Tattooing in Yonkers.

He graciously shared those as well. First is a tribal raven:


Oscar spoke of the raven's relationship with God. In the folklore, Raven helps the gods to raise the moon and the stars. He also is known as the prankster, who is always trying to catch the Sun.

In addition, there is a tattoo of Shiva, who Oscar acknowledges as a deity who "destroys ignorance and builds knowledge":


Finally, Oscar wears a Third Eye on his right bicep, which carries its traditional meaning:


Many thanks to Oscar for sharing his amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!