The Tattooed Poets Project: Joy Leftow

Today's tattooed poet is Joy Leftow, who offers up this tattoo on her upper right arm (and part of her shoulder):

Joy explains the story behind this tattoo:

The tattoo is my alter ego - not only Eminem has one. I had a very tumultuous and crazy childhood, so that I ended up dropping out of high school is no surprise. What is a surprise is that I now have 2 masters degrees, 1 in social work from Columbia, where I also attended undergrad for free in a special program geared towards helping the educationally and financially disadvantaged....out of the 11 people I began the program with, only me and one other gal made it through to graduation. Thus the importance of books in the tattoo, which represent knowledge and learning. I was always an avid reader and this turned to be my saving grace. But Columbia is a bitch and very competitive and wasn't exactly easy for a high school dropout. My other masters is in creative writing and is from CCNY, because once you're a working person, nothing is free, and CCNY is affordable. I'm very sorry to see the days of opportunities for the disadvantaged pass by and now one must work hard to find any remaining ones.

Myke Maldonado from Dreamland Creations [in Stroudsburg, PA] is my inker. Myke is famous for torturing people so that your ink will last forever. He also has some fame as a comic book illustrator and for his erotic art comics. I chose him because my son is totally inked by Myke. I know that Myke sits and takes his time to make the creation a by product of dialogue and collaboration. If he wouldn't have moved his ass around the country so much, he'd be a lot more famous. You can't find a better or more responsive inker. Love Myke!

Joy offers us this poem:

Ramblings Of A Dead Poet Revived

I’m your dream that drama queen you wanna be because you’re too damn scared on your own

so you talk about me –

My life shot and framed at every angle, a show and tell story of gory glory

A fit of reality TV evening drama

Me, an item to be discussed while you pine away

dismay pitted against your boring display of ridicule and scorn

a fine young thing wasted by the sideline of fate

a doorstep away

from where I stand

another miserable life invites me in

inciting an indictment in flight with a slight itch on the right side

another spiteful blight, pitiful, truly a fight to recite in the red light district of my mind

be polite do a rewrite be an anchor of light at first sight, sit tight

stay upright, only a bit contrite that my

knight in shining armor is all in my head

I have a legal right so join me in breaking bread maybe

Tempt you to try a

glass of organic Oregon Chardonnay instead

my life can’t be that exciting that you spend your time wondering when I do what I do and how I do it why do you care about my theatre life on the big screen

my life’s a Sartre amphitheatre

play and I am the spectre at the center of the fuss

I reminisce I exist

the bliss a swiss-chocolate kiss amiss to a soul kiss

the calypso discussion

I disinvite you to an airtight conclusion

~  ~ ~

In addition, we have an additional vision of Joy performing one of her poems:

Joy Leftow is a double alumna from Columbia U with a second Master’s from CCNY in creative writing. Her blog has over 27000 facebook followers and can be relished at: http://joyleftowsblog.blogspot.com. She’s been featured on Rockland Internet Radio, Indie Feed, Jazz Poetry Café and Everything Goes. Leftow’s honesty and openness may astonish you or embarrass you, but she promises not to bore you. Her book, A Spot of Bleach, is available at Amazon.

Thanks to Joy for sharing her tattoo and her words with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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: Puma Perl

It is with great pleasure that we present another tattooed poet, Puma Perl. She offered up this beautiful tattoo:

Tattoo by Emma Griffiths, Photo by Stas Nuke

We'll let Puma talk about this great piece:

"Everything of importance in my life has involved Coney Island. As the developers moved in and the city became more and more a playground for wealthy transplants, I knew I wanted to pay homage with a tattoo. I love the Mermaid Parade and the Wonder Wheel, so envisioned a mermaid with the Wonder Wheel in the background. A friend of mine happened to give me a magnet that she had bought at Lola Starr on the boardwalk (http://www.lolastar.com/) and I used that as the basic shape, changing the tattoo on the mermaid’s arm to a tiny replica of one of mine. I’d wanted to add my eyeglasses, but it was too tiny a detail. I contacted the amazing Emma Griffiths, Porcupine Tattoo, 31 Norman Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and made an appointment for a consultation. I brought the magnet and a photo of the Wonder Wheel and we collaborated. Emma drew our vision of the Wonder Wheel in the background and modeled her mermaid on the magnet."

Puma, as is the custom, also shared a poem. She commented that her poem is "about the Mermaid Parade, which also mentions Cha Cha’s, which was slated to be torn down but was recently granted one last season, along with 8 other unofficial Boardwalk landmarks." She also noted that "this poem was previously published in the Coney Island Examiner, along with several other poems about Coney Island." You can read all of them here.

The Best Day of the Year

We hung out on the roof at Cha Cha’s

watching the Mermaid Parade.

This is my favorite day of the year,

said Danny, snapping pictures

with a camera recently lifted

from the trunk of a Buick.

They need Mambo Mermaids

I said, as Zombie Mermaids,

and Vampire Mermaids

sauntered by. He ignored me,

entranced by glittery pasties

and hundreds of tits.

I had met Danny at the Siren Festival.

You can be my Coney Island Baby

was the first thing he told me,

while the New York Dolls played.

We danced straight down Surf Avenue,

all the way to Seagate where he rented

a room from a bunch of rabbis.

We’d been together almost a year.

You don’t need calendars on the boardwalk,

time is measured by cyclone screams,

sideshows, and wooden horses,

by two shadows on the sand,

by memories of striped chairs,

and thunderbolt rides.

We climbed down the stairs.

Danny tried to steal an antique car

but nobody took him seriously.

Coney Island kids paraded in wigs

left behind by drunken mermaids,

who now littered the street,

pasties lost, and breasts drooping.

This is the best day of the year,

said Danny, as we drank warm beer

and headed towards the after- parties.

We were never invited, but it was the best

day of the year, and we weren’t worried

about a thing.

© puma perl, 4/13/09

~ ~ ~

I want to interject that this poem coincidentally hearkens back to a very fortuitous day in the history of Tattoosday. For it was on July 21, 2007, when I attended the Siren Festival, the same day mentioned in the poem, when the first seeds of the Tattoosday concept began to sprout in my brain. For it was on that day, when we saw the New York Dolls, that I spotted a Keith Haring tattoo and started to connect the idea of asking about someone's tattoo, and blogging about it. Ten days later, the first Tattoosday post came to life. My recap of that day in Coney Island is recapped here, on BillyBlog. 

Puma Perl is a NYC-based writer, performance artist, and curator. Her poetry and fiction have been published in over 100 print and online journals and anthologies. 

She is the author of the award-winning chapbook, Belinda and Her Friends, and a full length collection, knuckle tattoos. 

She lives and writes on the Lower East Side and has facilitated writing workshops in community based agencies and at Riker’s Island, a NYC prison. She is a founding member of DDAY Productions, which presents poetry and performance events. Link to her blog for info about book purchases and events: http://pumaperl.blogspot.com/.

Thanks to Puma for sharing her awesome tattoo and poem here on Tattoosday, on the Tattooed Poets Project! Remember, all contributors, including those from 2009 and 2010, are indexed here.

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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

It's National Poetry Month!

It's another April here on Tattoosday, which means its another installment of the Tattooed Poets Project. For thirty days in April, we will be featuring the tattoos of poets, along with a sample of their work. Unlike previous years, we will be including the contributor's poem in the post here, rather than in a separate parallel post on BillyBlog.

Regular "on the street" tattoos will take a break and resume here in May. For the last few months, I have been reaching out to poets nationwide, and collecting their tattoos to showcase here. You can check out the 2009 and 2010 poets in the index here.

Thanks to all who are involved, along with, but not exclusively, Stacey at the Best American Poetry blog, Dorianne Laux, and Patricia Carragon, who curates the Brownstone Poets, many of who are joining us this year.

Enjoy!

The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Henry Lee

Today's tattoo was submitted by Michael Henry Lee:

Photo courtesy of Michael Henry Lee

There's a lot going on here, so let's let Michael explain:

"The work pictured began about 36 years ago in Kansas City, Mo. I only remember the artist's name as John. The piece started with the stylized exotic bird's head that John took credit for as his own. A few years later I found the same piece on the back of a Mountain album cover. Imagine. Fast forward a couple of decades to a fantastic shop [Soul Expressions Tattoo Studio] in Temecula Ca. and an artist named Dan Adair. The sun and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah were added there. The sun was David's design and the Lion comes from the Ethiopian flag borrowed from a Bob Marley album. The conceptual idea was mine and is meant to be symbolic of the Christian trinity: Father (as the sun), the Son (as the Conquering Lion) and our old buddy the bird (as the holy spirit). The seven is symbolic of the biblical number of completion and is repeated three times. The piece was just retouched and colored last year in Saint Augustine, Florida, by Tattoo Mike from Tattoo Garden."

Michael also offered up several short poems, including some haiku:

"tattoo impressions"

    van goes home

stepping out in a starry night    

(first appeared in graffiti kolkata Aug 2010)

~

tattoo garden

 the blush returns

 to mother's rose

~

What Love’s Got to do with It

It was rumored of late

that Love;

is suffering from a stolen identity

Eros has hacked into Agape

like the evil twin exchanged at birth;

     Ying for Yang

           The Pauper for the Prince

                    Cain for Abel

The imposter has taken control

using seduction and guile

to manipulate the hearts and minds

of whoever might be deceived

Love’s calling all investors

Setting the record straight

Distancing itself from a nefarious sibling

Love does not

          sell cars, clothes, food, or personal hygiene products

Love knows

          the grass isn’t greener in the next field,

          and besides brown is highly underrated anyway

Love always makes deposits

          but not withdrawals

Love is patient as water

          smoothing stone          

Love knows the worst

          but hopes for the best

Love bites its tongue and swallows its pride

Love looks at the heart

          not: boobs, biceps, or bank accounts

Love is the first one into a burning building

          an the last one off a sinking ship

Love builds

         Marriages

             Families

                  and  Nations 

                                                            

Love is an invisible necessity

         like  time, gravity, and oxygen

Love is beyond time and space

Eternal

Unconditional

                          a

                         gift

                    a promise

            one poured out for all 

                     that they

                       might

                        know

                         that

                         God

                           is

                           L

                           O

                           V

                           E

"What Love's Got to do with It" first appeared in Heart Pour The Love Book from Poet Plant Press, 2011

~

Michael Henry Lee is a husband, father and grandfather. He and his wife of 30 years reside in St. Augustine, Florida; the nation’s oldest city, along with two cats, and numerous bonsai trees.

Michael is a member of Ancient City Poets and the Haiku Society of America. The last Sunday of every month generally finds him at the Heart Pour Matinee; an open mic poetry reading that features seasoned artists as well as new talents. 

Mr. Lee serves as contributing co-editor for Poet Plant Press, and is a frequent contributor to Haiku News, and Haiku Ramblings. His work has appeared in Berry Blue Haiku, and Graffiti Kolkata He was voted among the favorites in the 2009 Alibi Weekly annual haiku contest, and was awarded third place prize in the Yukei Teikei Annual Tokutomi Haiku Contest for 2010.

Mr. Lee is quoted as saying “my objective is to express the good news and mystery of life in every breath, through the simplicity of haiku”.

Thanks to Michael Henry Lee for sharing his tattoo and his work with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poems are reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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: Lorraine Conlin

Today's tattooed poet is Lorraine Conlin, one of several Long Island wordsmiths featured this month on the Tattooed Poets Project.

Lorraine offers up this beautiful tattoo on the upper right side of her back:

Photo courtesy of Lorraine Conlin

Lorraine gives us the background of this lovely La:

"My first and only tattoo (so far), was self-designed with a bit of enhancement by Syxx, of Wyld Chyld Tattoo in Merrick, NY, where I co-host poetry events in their adjoining café.  La is the Lilliputianized form of my original nickname, Lala.  Before I said Mama or Dada, as most babies do, I uttered Lala and from that day forward, my family referred to me as their “little Lala”. 

Photo courtesy of Lorraine Conlin

The name stayed with me and friends and business associates starting calling me “La”.  While hosting the open mic at Wyld Chyld Tattoo & Café, I met Syxx, (Raymond Obrien) who is with the Metal Group, “The Saints of Pain”.  He signed up to read one night and read something he had written.  We started talking and I asked if I had any ink.  I told him I was afraid of infection and I was allergic to lots of foods and meds. He asked me which ones and when I said sulfur, he said I could get any colors except yellow or any that had yellow in their composition.  He was so reassuring, knowledgeable and gentle that I went home that night and started thinking about what to get and where I wanted it.  I sketched it out and brought him the sketch.  We made a date, he made the stencil and the rest is history."

Lorraine was kind enough to share this poem with us: 

A Wannabe Fantasy

I told my shrink I wannabe a back warmer

sit on a bitch pad behind a biker guy

wrap my arms round his ape-hanger grip

straddle his bar-hopper bike on Friday nights

ride with a big bearded chromosexual guy

cruise the big road to nowhere…

I wanna goggle the horizon -- eat asphalt

let my puppies hang loose

wear black leather chaps

and a purple skid lid

“I don’t think you do.” He said

Yes, I do

I love bikers

especially the B.U.G.s

the bigger, uglier the guy

the harder they try

the better they make me feel

told him I rode hard and long with a few

before these confession sessions

He said. “We have to stop now.”

I found a new therapist

she loves to listen

to my biker-chick fantasies

rides along with me

always asks

“How does that make you feel”…

~ ~ ~

Lorraine Conlin is a US Customs Broker at JFK Airport. She is on the BOD of The Long Island Poetry Collective, hosts “Tuesdays With Poetry” for Poets in Nassau, and co-hosts for PerformancePoets Association at Wyld Chyld Tattoo & Café in Merrick, LINY. Her work has been published in PPA Literary Review(s), LongIsland Sounds Anthology(s).  Lorraine initiated and hosts Super Poem Sunday, where folks gather to celebrate the sport of poetry on Super Bowl Sunday.  She is also the founder of the Long Island Poets for Darfur.  Lorraine is currently working on her first book of poems.

Thanks to Lorraine for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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: Nescher Pyscher

Today's tattooed poet is named Nescher Pyscher and hails from Cambridge, Ohio.

Nescher offered  up his right wrist for us here at Tattoosday:

Photo courtesy of Nescher Pyscher

Nescher explains:

"The tattoo was done in two parts. The first part was my wife's name in Chinese, surrounded by an infinity symbol. It was my wedding present for her. I designed the tattoo myself, and I was inspired to do so by a ink-stamper-thing-y my wife's father brought home for her from China. The second part, my son's name, was my wife's Christmas present to me when our son was born. I do not remember the name of the tattoo studios or the artists, but both tats were procured in the Akron, Ohio area."

As a matter of clarification, I asked Nescher about the kanji representing his wife's name. He told me that the "three symbols mean--so I've been told--'Mother,' 'Earth' and 'Love.' " He added that she is a geologist, by occupation.

Photo courtesy of Nescher Pyscher

As for his son's name, Geir, he clarified that his name means Spear, which is Icelandic or Norwegian, in origin. Nescher added that "names with value and freighted with meaning are important in my family. He is the strong weapon in my right hand, the spear we cast into the future."

As for a poem, Nescher, offered up this piece:

dustbitten

i plant the seed of myself within myself--

mutated, cloned, half-life-whole that

gropes toward darkening life--

and watch the poisoned weed of me grow.

i am the frozen feathers of a bird in flight,

locked to dead tree, dying in estrous,

decayed in birth, and forgotten before the wind

could sweep through feathers.

i am eye,

i am face,

i am ear

i am the frozen corpse at the bottom of the well

leaking into life; oozing into being;

draining into dream and desire

i am fist

i am nail

i am bent, broken finger

i water the tumors of me with the salt of my tears

the iron tang of my blood,

the sweet toxin of my urine.

i am teeth

i am tongue

i am busily working lips

i eat my flesh, taken straight from crippled vine

and wince at the taste of my self-inflicted pain,

juices running unchecked down my pocked and hairless

chin

i am blister

i am burn

i am wounded, weeping sore

my madness drives me, sings inside me

and keeps me warm

the feel of meeting teeth on my broken skin feels

like warm rain in the evening;  

sun setting on life forever

i am stone

i am flesh

i am dust

 ~ ~ ~

Nescher Pyscher--his real name. Honest!--is a happily married, thirty-five year old author and poet living, writing and staying at home with his son in the Cambridge, Ohio area. His writing can be found at Weebly.com, Helium.com, Pablo Lennis, and his book of short stories, Itchy Whispers, is now available from Trafford or Amazon.com. His adventures in ineptitude with his son, The Pants, can be read twice weekly at The Daily Jeffersonian.  

Thanks to Nescher for sharing his tattoos and his poetry with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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.