Paul Hlava and a Ring on the Tattooed Poets Project

Today's tattooed poet is Paul Hlava, who sent us this photo:

This is a simple tattoo, with a simple explanation.

"I had just gotten married, and my partner and I wanted something to mark the occasion, Paul explained. He went to Graceland Tattoo in Brooklyn, noting "We both liked the simplicity of a geometric shape and all the metaphors and implications of a circle, or ring."

Paul shared the following poem, as well:

Pendulum, Balance Wheel, Escape

Because I live in a clocktower

time moves in reverse.

When I eat I am hungry,

when I wake, the golden weight

dances at the end of its chain.

Gears twist like reptilian

claws of ospreys

planting fish in the sea.

The bells ring twice, once

in the distance and once inside.

The moon is rising just so.

I’m the steady center

of a spinning world.

Every triumph I will achieve is memory.

My daughters walked out on me

before they were born.

Undeveloped photos hang on the wall.

The apples have been moved

to another room. 

~ ~ ~

Paul Hlava's poetry has appeared in Narrative Magazine, the PEN Poetry Series, Acentos Review, and Best New Poets, among others, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He has an MFA from New York University and was a Poets House Fellow. He now lives in Seattle. Visit him at www.paulhlava.com.

Thanks to Paul for sharing his poem and tattoo with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2017 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.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.

Yvonne's Tiny Tattoo: Carpe This Diem

Last weekend in Miami, I was talking to Yvonne, a dear friend of one of my wife's cousins and now, my friend too. I just had to ask her about this tattoo on her ring finger:

That's "Carpe Diem," Latin for "seize the day" on her ring finger.

When I asked her about it, she explained that, twenty years ago, she was married and was exasperated with her husband, because she felt that he rarely paid attention to her.

To prove a point, she removed her wedding ring and went out and got the tattoo, just to see if he would notice.

Not surprisingly, she said it took months before he asked her what was on her hand. Her suspicions had already long been confirmed, but the fact that it took him so long to notice only solidified her concerns.

Needless to say, the marriage ended. But, as they say, tattoos are forever. Yvonne has a constant reminder to seize the day and a cautionary tale for men everywhere - better pay attention, guys!

Thanks to Yvonne for sharing her cool tattoo 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Kirsten Smith

It is astonishing to realize that this is the start of our fifth annual Tattooed Poets Project! When we first started, I was worried I'd be able to assemble a month's worth of poets, and here we are, about to embark on another group of the inked and talented. What's more, the interest this year has been unprecedented, and readers will be getting more for their National Poetry Month - there will be days when we feature not one, but two, tattooed poets.

We're launching our fifth annual installment with a small tattoo on an accomplished hand - that of Kirsten Smith, who is not only a wonderful poet, but a talented novelist and screenwriter. Check out her tattoo:

Kirtsen explains: 

"I got it in 1991 ... back when it was illegal in NYC! My friend Brigitte Sullivan and I designed matching rings on the train ride uptown to Darren Rosa's apartment; it was pretty last minute. It was the early 90's and we became best friends studying film at NYU. We modeled the design after some actual rings we always wore. Hers' had a heart in it, since her birthday is Valentine's Day. Life took us on different paths, but I always feel connected to her, thanks to this ring."

Darren Rosa has been a fixture in the New York City tattoo scene for over 25 years and helped found Rising Dragon Tattoos, which opened on 23rd Street on the ground floor of the Chelsea Hotel, and has subsequently relocated to 14th Street.

Kirtsen was kind enough to send along her poem "Tattoo Parlor," which was originally published in The Gettysburg Review:

Tattoo Parlor

I make my living with one hand on a girl's ass
and the other on a fuse box.
Three nights a week I'm in a room
filled with soft noises
or the brittle silence of men in pain.
Like any good artist, I have a poison pen;
like any good citizen, I pay taxes.
Sometimes, though, I like it too much,
the endless carving,
the pop of certain needles,
the ink on a punk rocker's breast.

And tonight, while a skull and bones
is travelling from my fingers
into the arm of a Merchant Marine
and two girls are giggling in the hall,
I wonder what I'm doing here,
if I can take one more day
of a brunette's blood on my hands,
or my best work
walking off into the sunset.
The girls are squealing oh gross
and the Marine is grimacing hard
and I'm taking their bodies and changing them,
I am taking their lives
and making them my own.

~ ~ ~

Kirsten Smith is a poet, screenwriter and novelist. Her recent YA novel, Trinkets, was just published by Little, Brown, as was her 2006 novel-in-verse The Geography of Girlhood. She’s co-written the screenplays for Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, The House Bunny, She's the Man and The Ugly Truth.

Thanks to Kirtsen "Kiwi" Smith for helping us launch our fifth installment of the Tattooed Poets Project here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo photos 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.