Jessyca's Awesome Family Tree

A couple of summers ago, I met Jessyca near the New York Stock Exchange, and she shared this amazing tree on the back of her leg:

She called this her "family tree," as it is inhabited by creatures representing members of her family. The raccoon peering out from the center of the tree symbolizes her father.

The cardinal is one of her brothers and the fox represents her mother.

The husky at the bottom of the tree represents another brother, the heron is her sister, and she is the iguana.

She credited the work to an artist named Stephanie, who did this at Brass Anchor Tattoo Lounge (@brassanchortattoolounge) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Thanks to Jessyca for sharing her awesome family tree with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2019 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.

Vincent Cellucci on the Tattooed Poets Project

Our next tattooed poet is Vincent Cellucci, who shared the following photo featuring several tattoos:

Vincent describes how these tattoos came to be:

"This chest piece began with the script 'P' over my heart, a memorial for my mother, Philomena, who died when I was young, so I knew I would never regret the tattoo. I got it when I was 17 on my first trip to New Orleans from a pretty sketchy parlor that used to be located across from Le Bon Temps Roule Bar, after drinking and dancing to Kermit Ruffins all night. My friend and fiction writer, Peyton Burgess got one with me; in fact, it was the first time we met.

The tattoo continued with the two signatures, one of my maternal grandmother, Jowena, and one of my paternal one, endeared Nemom. Both matrons of my family passed rather close together during the early rebuilding days of Katrina, while I was managing Theo's Pizza (one of the first places open after the storm) and pursuing my graduate school studies in poetry at LSU.

Nemom was an avid letter writer, world traveler, autodidact, polyglot, opera aficionado, and wise, little Italian grandmother—most of which she redefined herself as after raising a large family and being widowed. For a girl that worked at a sewing factory in the Bronx and never finished high school, she developed into a real Renaissance woman. She reminds me to never stop learning and pursuing new passions.

Nana Jowena corresponded with me frequently, but her profundity leans more towards vitality than letters. She embodied both strength and joy to me. This woman had a lonely and tragic life: losing two daughters, caring for her ill mother, and dealing with a bitter divorce to allude to just a few of the adversities she overcame. I never once heard the woman complain. Quite the opposite, she was the warmest, funniest entity you would ever meet. She was always strong. She never wallowed. In fact, she laughed constantly, never preventing herself form 'busting out.' She cooked daily too (with no money for groceries) and shared her food and joy with anyone that she interacted with, while confined to her small house in Philly: the mail people, the neighbors, the nuns that brought her communion. I strive to always maintain her disposition, the greatest of her many life lessons.

The large inked figure was done at Electric Ladyland (@electricladylandtattoo) on Frenchman St. I remember going with poet Christopher Shipman [appearing later this month on the Tattooed Poets Project!] as he was getting a memorial tattoo for his grandfather. Based off a detail of an oil painting of mine [see below], this mysterious gesture both resembles a bird and an angel. 

The lore of the Cellucci family name is that it means 'little bird.' I also know these women are my guardian angels and I would not be, nor be the person that I am, without them. I had the idea that it would tie the family memorial chest piece together and the artist watered down the ink to try to get that faded, dry brush-like effect. He was a cool guy and up for the challenge to try adapting the painting to skin. Poetry is such a glorious space for ambiguity, multiple meanings, and imagination, so I wanted a gestural, figurative tattoo too.

This family memorial tattoo will never be finished as I'm sure it will only grow, unfortunately.

Everyone should get the tattoos they want, but I get the tattoos I have to—"

Vincent also sent us the following poem, from his newly-released Absence Like Sun, re-published with permission from Unlikely Stories and Lavender Ink:

send someone close   second to none

right back to the mugging hum drum

of living life silent as an order for one

instead of a loud hand molding fantasies

into being maybe that was god’s error

the audience of his mission

couldn’t forgive him for setting the garden

with a naked awakening

craving for like company

children now too doped up to redeem

humanity may be the most fragile medium

this planet sympathy symphony

in a minor key that the poets sing

been battling the abyss since the beginning

been tattling on our brethren for a pittance

I can’t scrape my soul off the bleached coral

I can’t escape the mortal

mortar I’m afraid binds nothing

oversaturate the roots and see what grows

compost the roses like brown banana peels

I meant it when I ripped open my shirt

you watched the fault line form

down the middle of my crypt heart

inked with the tears I held in

over the plucked feathers of my family

I still talk to every day

yesterday my father promised me

he would be there to talk until his death

and while I plan to take him up

on such a gracious guarantee

I reminded him that even when he’s dead

I will be speaking to him

I’m not sure how he took that

because that’s when we both hung up

but that’s how I live fully in this world

and fully in the next

until the whole fucking geode crumbles

to gleaming debris

and my graveyard gets folded

into a greater graveyard lapping behind

~ ~ ~

Vincent Cellucci wrote Absence Like Sun (Lavender Ink, 2019) and An Easy Place / To Die (CityLit Press, 2011). He edited Fuck Poems an exceptional anthology (Lavender Ink, 2012). He also has two collaborative titles: come back river (Finishing Line Press) and _a ship on the line (Unlikely Books), which was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award. Vincent performed Diamonds in Dystopia, an interactive poetry web app at SXSW in 2017, and the poem was anthologized in Best American Experimental Writing 2018.

Thanks to Vincent for sharing his poem and tattoos 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.

Aaron's Family in a Zodiac Sleeve

I met one of my neighbors, Aaron, over the weekend and he shared his incredible sleeve, which is devoted to the animals of the Chinese zodiac, as they relate to his family. Check it out:

His wife, Rebecca, was born in the year of the rooster, Aaron was born in the year of the dragon, his older son is born in the year of the tiger, and his youngest was born in the year of the goat:

Another view gives us a larger view of the arm:

Aaron credited Max Brown (@maxwellquesterbrown) out of Brown Brothers Tattoo (@brownbrotherstattoo) in Chicago with this fantastic sleeve.

Thanks to Aaron for sharing his awesome Chinese zodiac sleeves 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.

Rajiv Mohabir Helps Launch Our Tenth Year of the Tattooed Poets Project

It is amazing to me that we are in our tenth April, celebrating tattooed poets during National Poetry Month.

We're launching this year's parade of poets with a special contribution from Rajiv Mohabir!

Rajiv sent us two tattoos, beginning with this one, on his forearm:

He tells us:

"The square tattoo is in honor of my Aji, Gangadai Mohabir (my paternal grandmother) who mothered thirteen children in Guyana. It was a long-time tradition for people, and especially Bhojpuri women, to tattoos their husbands’ names on their forearms. There was a belief that people’s names held magic, that by using someone’s name you would disrespect them by giving their power away. My family’s naming traditions are mystical still, albeit changed somewhat.

Here’s a photo of my Aji’s tattoo:

My Aji tattooed her husband’s name (Sewdass) on her arm with and Om above it, so when people asked who her husband was—which seldom happened in the small village of Crabwood Creek—she would be able to show them. My Aja did not have my Aji’s name tattooed on his arm though.

Tattoos were thought to be important, signifying social standing. My tattoo is also in homage to this tradition of 'godna' and the Devanagari script says my ancestors’ names in four generations in the shape of a square. The names are Chandranarine, Sewdass, Mahabir, and Lachchman.

People ask why I don’t tattoo my own name on my arm. My answer is always 'It’s on my

skin—that’s my contribution.'

Rajiv also shared this tattoo:

Rajiv explained:

"Since this is so hetero-patriarchal and on my right arm (cosmologically significant for the masc energies of the body in Vedantic thought), I thought to balance out my energies by tattooing a lotus yantra with the word 'Ma' in the center to keep the women I descend from touching my heart. The left side of the body is believed to be the femme side. My mother was low-key offended that I didn’t have her on my arm. But I told her I have you all over my poems, which will exist longer than my skin. Did I mention that I’m a huge mama’s boy?"

Rajiv shared the following poem, which appears below in its original form in Guyanese Bhojpuri, followed by his translation:

Godna

godna walle ta bulawe
aur baja pe aike kantak leke
hathwa ke juk-juk kare hai
ho rama
hathwa ke juk-juk angrej mein hai
angrej deswa mein inglis bole
hamar paglapan bhulo lalana
ho rama
nu yack mein godna lagal saanwar,
hamar hath pe ii godna lagal,
aapan khandaan-chhap lagal
ho rama
tohar nam likhal hai pitrwa
aapan chamriya pe ajawa
gulaab kantak se nam nam likhal hai
ho rama
koi gaaye walle nahin rahi ohar
jab khoon nikal lage rahi, dard lage rahi
koi rahi nahin dardwa uthaiyeke
ho rama
Kaise bhulye aapan dukh-sukh bhala
kantak ke nisaanwa rahejai
hamar dohe gaayke bataihai
ho rama
kaun jaane hamar muluk
kahan kahan hai hamar gaon
galli galli ghumeli galli galliya
ho rama
kaun batawe kahan kahan pe
ghumeke hai, Rama Rahim ke khoj mein,
kaun bataihe hamar deswa andar hai
ho rama

Godna

You call the tattoo artist
to your door who comes with his needles
to poke your arm

ho Rama
His scoring your skin is in English
In English country speak English
forget my madness

ho Rama
In New York I mark my dark skin
on my arm I inked
the signature of my descent
ho Rama
Your name he wrote, dear ancestor
on my flesh, dear Aja
with a rose’s thorn he wrote your name
ho Rama
No singer played a folksong
when blood erupted and pain began
no song to ease the hurt
ho Rama
Who knows where my country is
where my village is
from gulley to gulley I roam
ho Rama
Who will tell me exactly where
I must wander, searching out Rama-Rahim
Who will tell me my nation is inside me
ho Rama

~ ~ ~

Rajiv Mohabir is the author of The Cowherd’s Son (Tupelo Press 2017, winner of the 2015 Kundiman Prize) and The Taxidermist’s Cut (Four Way Books 2016, winner of the Four Way Books Intro to Poetry Prize, Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry in 2017). In 2015 he was a winner of the AWP Intro Journals Award. His poetry appears and is forthcoming from journals like POETRY, New England Review, Kenyon Review, Quarterly West, and Prairie Schooner. He received his MFA in Poetry and Translation from at Queens College, CUNY and his PhD in English from the University of Hawai`i. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of poetry at Auburn University. To read more of his work, visit www.rajivmohabir.com.

A hearty thank you to Rajiv for his contribution and his participation in the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos 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.

Brewsday Tuesday: Left Hand Edition

Last summer we launched our Brewsday Tuesday on Tattoosday feature, and we're back with more great tattoos and beer (and a super prize giveaway) from the good folks at Left Hand Brewing (@lefthandbrewing) in Colorado!

Left Hand was founded in 1993 in Longmont, about 30 miles outside of Denver, and they have been an award-winning brewery ever since, racking up medals and awards and, most importantly, producing great beer.

I recently had a chat with Ryan Call, Left Hand's Western Regional Manager, and we talked beer and tattoos. First let's look at some of his tattoos:

That's a pretty cool koi swimming up Ryan's arm...

There are some great elements in this half sleeve.

Ryan told me that he had been a fan of traditional Japanese tattoo art, but he had been working for a distributor in Kansas that didn't allow tattoos. When he landed the gig at Left Hand, there were no such restrictions, so he celebrated and "went big" with this beautiful tattoo.

He credited Ron Miller (@miller.tattoo) at Ichiban Tattoo in Lawrence, Kansas . Ron has since opened his own shop, called Miller Tattoo, also in Lawrence.

Ryan also has another tattoo, as spotted in this photo:

That is a pocket watch on his wrist with a banner that says ...

"Live for Today."

Ryan told me that this watch in the tattoo is a family heirloom, that was handed down to him when his grandfather passed away. The watch has been in his family since 1888 and, since it's locked away in a safe deposit box, this way he gets to see it every day.

He got this as a walk-in at Mercy Seat Tattoo (@mercyseattattoo) in Kansas City, Missouri.

Thanks to Ryan for sharing his tattoos, photographed by Kearby Milliner at Left Hand.

Now, let's talk about the beer. Left Hand has a slew of brands and, as familiar as I am with some, I got a nice sample for this post:

I had a lot of fun drinking this beer, I can honestly say. I've been a fan of Left Hand's Milk Stout (far right) and, although I tend to favor darker beers, I found the lighter ones, like the Travelin' Light kolsch and the Polestar pilsner, to be crisp and flavorful. The Extrovert IPA is a solid brand with a great hoppiness that stands among the best IPAs out there. The shining gem in this family portrait, for me, however, was their Fade to Black (pictured second from left). This seasonal "foreign stout" is a palate-buster for me, with licorice notes that really made drinking this beer a treat.

Ryan told me his favorite brand is the Black Jack porter, which is one of their perennial brews that rocks a great espresso and dark chocolate flavor.

Left Hand has a solid lineup and it was a pleasure and honor to partner with them in this celebration of tattoos and brews!

They are also very generous, in that they have offered up a super "Ready to Rock" prize package for Tattoosday readers:

This includes, a Nitro Sherpa Hoodie, a Pour Hard Knuckles t-shirt, a Red Pour Hard Nitro t-shirt, a Colorado Trucker Hat, a 64 oz Ecovessel, a Left Hand cooler bag and belt pack! WHAT?! All apparel is size M.

Readers who comment below or on social media will be entered automatically into a random drawing and the winner will get this box of awesomeness shipped to their doorstep. Commenting with your favorite brand from Left Hand will double your chances, as I will count your entry twice.

Thanks to all the great people at Left Hand Brewing Company for making this an awesome Brewsday Tuesday! Special thanks to Sarah Watson for coordinating this with me, and to Ryan Call, for sharing his tattoos with us, as well as all the others on the Left Hand team that helped make this post possible.

Cheers!

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.

Brandon's Tattoos

Last summer I met a gentleman named Brandon Latham at the New York Empire State Tattoo Expo (@nyempirestatetattooexpo). He had just been tattooed by J.J. Ohlinger (@jjohlinger), who was working the show.

Check it out:

Photo courtesy of Brandon Latham

Brandon, who is an artist in Greenville, South Carolina, explained:

"I wanted to draw a tattoo, so I drew an octopus and shaded it and got the look that I wanted and then I gave it to a professional [Ohlinger] to make it into a stencil, to make it a cohesive piece, we kind of collaborated on it ... the octopus is a creature that adapts to its surroundings it has three hearts, and so I kinda did that to represent my wife, my daughter and myself  ... it's a creative unique character .... as soon as I thought about doing it, I saw them everywhere ... I thought about it for a long time because I'm not a very impulsive person, it took me a long time to even get a tattoo."

Ohlinger did a fine job placing the tattoo and making sure it flowed with the contour of Brandon's body. It's a great piece with solid linework and excellent detail.

Brandon also has this anatomical heart on the back of his calf, which Ohlinger also tattooed, back in 2014:

Brandon explained that "the different figures on the side[s] represent different things about [his] life." For example, the cat wearing the hat is "a Russian symbol that means even if you are born in mediocrity, you san still strive above and be an aristocrat," or, in other words, "just because you're born poor doesn't mean you have to continue to be poor, you can strive above that."

He also described the crow reading the book as a steampunk image, noting that "the crow, which is the only animal that analyzes human behavior ... has decided to take care of the children" after the kids' parents have gone off to work.

Brandon is a runner (10 half marathons and a couple of marathons), which explains the cool image of the hare with a tortoise shell on its back.

And the airplane, he explained "is a piper cub airplane, the plane that my dad used to work on, and my daughter's name is Piper."

The details in and around the heart really make this a cool combination of tattoos.

Thanks to Brandon for sharing his work 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.

Keith's History in His Traditional Tattoos

Yesterday, I posted about the opening (here) for the Tattooed New York exhibition at the New York Historical Society.

There was a lot of history in the room, as well, in the form of people. I struck up a conversation with one gentleman and his wife. His name was Keith Wagner and he shared the following tattoo:

What does this have to do with tattoo history? Keith is the great-nephew of Charlie Wagner, In other words, his grandfather, Stephan, was Charlie's brother. Charlie Wagner, who died in 1953, patented a tattoo machine in the early part of the 20th century, had a successful supply company and tattooed for decades on the Bowery.

This tribute to the family name which he proudly bears was inked by Dano Collins.

Keith and his wife Jan also shared matching swallows tattooed by another tattooing legend, "Bowery" Stan Moskowitz:

Thanks to Keith and Jan for sharing their 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.

Adrian's Tattoos Represent Family

This past weekend I was in South Florida and I met Adrian in  a Walgreen's. He had a bunch of tattoos and kindly shared some of his work:

"Each animal is for a different member of my family," Adrian told me, pointing out pieces on his forearms as well. His mom likes owls, his dad likes eagles. The wolf on left hand is for his brother and the spider is for himself. Why the spider? "Because I like creepy things," he explained.

He had these done at Love Tattoo in Jenison, Michigan, although the artist, Preston Mashburn (mr_mashburnratc), is now at Mos Eisley's Tattoos in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Thanks to Adrian for sharing these 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.

Fiorella Rocks a Sleeve That Illustrates Her Love of Film

Last summer, I ran into a woman named Fiorella near the subway entrance at Greeley Square.

Her tattoo stopped me in my tracks and I just had to speak to her:

And this wraps around her upper arm:

At the bottom of the tattoo is a phrase that reads "What you don't know, you can feel it sometimes."

Fiorella explained that she is a student of film making, starting out from her home in Costa Rica, and continuing her studies here in New York City.

She is a videographer, whose YouTube channel can be viewed here.

The collage of film images in the tattoo include Amadeus (partially visible in the top photo), Charlie Chaplin (top photo), A Clockwork Orange, Jack Nicholson from The Shining and an image from Cinema Paradiso.

She also had images of her family "spliced" into the filmstrip.

Her favorite director is Woody Allen.

She credited the tattoo to Hiram Cordero at 506 Tattoo Studio in San José, Costa Rica.

Thanks to Fiorella for sharing her awesome 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.

Taylor, Tops, and Ink Master Returns!

Over the years, we've been fortunate enough to have featured the work of Taylor here on Tattoosday. We first met her here in 2010 and she has shared several new pieces as she has added to her collection. Taylor lives in my neighborhood, working at her family's business, and keeping me posted on her latest work.

I was pleased to see this, her latest tattoo, in my inbox last week:

Taylor explained that she got this pin-up "in honor of Tops Restaurant Supplies, which was established in 1968 by [her] grandfather Harry Monier, who was also owner of the Parakeet Club back in the day."

It's also in honor of her grandmother, who passed away at a very young age, and her father, who started with Tops at the beginning at the age of 17. Taylor works there, too, helping with the family business.

Like a lot of Taylor's other work, this is by Angel at Puncture Tattoo in Brooklyn. Angel is appearing on Ink Master Season 5, premiering tonight on Spike. This season has a twist, in which artists are paired with "rivals," and Angel is paired with Cris Element, now out of Leathernecks Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Both artists will be at a viewing party tonight in Bay Ridge at The Wicked Monk

Be sure to stop by and help usher in the new season of Ink Master!

Thanks to Taylor for once again sharing her awesome tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 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: Leslie Marie Aguilar and Her Blackbirds

Our next tattooed poet is Leslie Marie Aguilar, who sent us this photo:

Photo by Clint Frazier

Leslie explains:

"When I was younger, my father used to play The Beatles records on repeat while he ironed his clothes on the weekends. Consequently, some of my earliest memories are punctuated with the scent of Faultless Starch and Lennon/McCartney singing 'Blackbird.' The five blackbirds that make up this design represent a member of my immediate family.

Photo by Clint Frazier

The moment I decided to attend graduate school in the Midwest, I knew I had to get a piece for my family that was inked in my hometown—Sacred Art Tattoos & Piercings, to be exact. (The owner, Brad Worrell, is absolutely incredible!) I wanted a design that would represent family and foundation. Now, my tattoo functions as a daily reminder that it’s okay to have roots and wings."

Leslie also sent us this poem, which first appeared in Looseleaf Tea:

WATER MEXICAN

Barreling through the air like a bare-knuckled fist,
I am raw hide & pink panties clinging to the edge
of my narrow hips as I leap into a turquoise tiled
swimming pool. I am a child, & I haven’t learned
how to swim yet, haven’t learned to thrash my limbs
violently beneath the surface to keep my head afloat.
I must have known then, the moment before I flopped
belly first into the pool, that I would float. I must have.
Months later, when my white friend asks if I can swim,
I’ll lower my head towards the creek bed beneath
the broken bridge where we are standing & say, No,
there are snakes in this water. Gesturing with her index
finger, she will point at the water moccasins gliding
beneath the water, & say, those Mexicans can swim.
I’ll laugh at the slip of her tongue, not knowing then
the water moccasin is a venomous snake that claims
the waters of Southern states. Its defense tactics are
often over-exaggerated as aggressiveness. Unless
threatened, the moccasin minds its own. I’ll learn
this years later, just like I’ll learn how to tread water
out of necessity, & she will learn how to swim faster.

~ ~ ~

Leslie Marie Aguilar was born and raised in Abilene, Texas. She has served as the Poetry Editor of Harbinger Journal of Literature and Art and is the current Web Editor of Indiana Review. She is also the recipient of a National Society of Arts and Letters Literature Award. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Bellingham Review, Iron Horse Review, Ninth Letter, Rattle, and Spillway among others. She is currently an MFA candidate at Indiana University.

Thanks to Leslie for sharing her blackbirds and her poem with us here on Tattoosday's 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.

Tattoos I Love: Melanie's Tribute to Our Family

How is it possible that my lovely wife Melanie, who celebrates her birthday today, has a tattoo that hasn't graced these pages? It just is, I guess, but in celebration of her special day, let's all look at my favorite tattoo of her collection:

This photo was taken shortly after it was inked by the awesome Peter Cavorsi, owner of Body Art Studios in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, many five or six years ago.

The center of the piece is a Star of David with the Hebrew word חי (Chai) in the center. The design is inspired by this necklace Melanie has:

The Hebrew words encircling the center design element are the Hebrew names of our family members: Melanie's, mine, and those of our two daughters.

When Melanie came up with the concept of the whole piece, she wanted to make sure she got the Hebrew correct, so she met with a friend of ours who is a rabbi. He agreed, in a very rabbinical way, to provide her with the Hebrew lettering on the condition that Melanie would meet with him and study why tattooing is considered by many to be forbidden in Judaism. She agreed, of course, and the lesson proves valuable whenever she feels like challenging those who challenge her on why Jews shouldn't get inked. Note this 2008 piece from the New York Times about Jews and Tattoos.

One technical note: I was in charge of proofreading the final design before the stencil was made, and I missed the fact that, in one of our daughter's Hebrew names, which is comprised of three names, the second and third names run together, a detail missed by many, but proof that, even when you think you know something's perfect, you should triple-check. This small technical error doesn't make the tattoo any less awesome, in my opinion.

Then again, I'm biased, because it's a beautiful tattoo on the woman I love and, well, she chose to ink my Hebrew name on her flesh, along with our awesome children, as well.

So, on this, Melanie's birthday, I want to share her tattoo and wish her a wonderful day.

I love you Melanie, and I love your tattoos!

This entry is ©2014 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.

Anna's Amazing Half-Sleeve Honors Her Brothers and Where They Have Lived

Yesterday we saw work from an Italian artist, today we are admiring ink I spotted on the subway last month that originated in Sweden.

I met Anna on the West 4th Street platform and hopped on the F train toward Brooklyn just to have a moment to talk to her and find out a little about her tattoos:

Anna explained the concept as a family-related sleeve. The two faces that are featured in the hot air balloons are portraits of her brothers, Mike and John. The maps that appear as background represent many of the places they have lived, like Japan, Peru, and Puerto Rico.

She credited this stunning work to Vilda Nordström at Vild@art in Vårgårda, Sweden. Check out their Facebook page here. Vilda's work is very impressive!

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


This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

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.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.

Laici's Astrological Cluster

I met Laici last month outside of Penn Station, near the corner of 33rd Street and 8th Avenue. I was intrigued by this design on her upper right arm:

This design consists of several symbols from the Zodiac.

Laici explained, "My dad's a Cancer, my mom's an Aries, my sister and I are Scorpios, and my brother is a Sagittarius."


She designed this piece herself by combining the four symbols into a cohesive design:

The four elements combined on her arm to represent her family unit. It's a neat concept and it is executed rather nicely. I especially like how she combined the last two parts, Scorpio and Sagittarius, to form one fluid symbol that encapsulates her and her siblings together.

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


This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

The four Zodiac symbols illustrated above were linked from TattooSymbol.com.

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.