Brennan DeFrisco's Dying Rose [The Tattooed Poets Project]

Today's tattooed poet is Brennan DeFrisco, who shared this tattoo with us:

Brennan explains:

"I chose the design of a dying rose to balance out all the blooming, live ones I have around my ankle. It was done by Brandon Bear at Black Sea Tattoos [in Walnut Creek, California]. I was having a discussion with a poet friend about the concept of method poetry, or doing what you're writing about as you're writing about it. We were discussing what kind of experiences would lend themselves to this kind of writing prompt and agreed that getting a tattoo was among them. I wrote Stung [the poem below] on Brandon's table, as he tattooed me. It has since stood out as one of the more memorable moments of my writing career."

Here is the aforementioned Stung:

Stung

written on table at Black Sea Tattoos

it starts

like you are holding a rose

carelessly

a sharp reminder

that beautiful things

come with a price

your flesh is a hive of bees

deep in conversation

coordinating tactics, stabbing you

thousands of times with

stings as sweet as honey

pain is just another way

of knowing you’re still alive

it takes five minutes

for your nerves

to go numb

after that,

each vibration is an aphrodisiac

a caress

an aggressive scratch

a lover’s grasp around the back of your neck

and a post-coital cigarette

at the same time

I always smile

when people ask

why I have so many tattoos

if only they knew

the euphoria

of being a beekeeper

~ ~ ~

Brennan DeFrisco is an MFA candidate at Antioch UniversityLos Angeles in the Creative Writing Program with an emphasis on Poetry. He represented Berkeley at the 2015 National Poetry Slam, where his team took third place in the country. He is co-founder of Lucky Bastard Press, where he co-edits with his partner, Allie Marini. He is a California Poet In The Schools, teaching poetry to student writers across the Bay Area. He’s the author of A Heart With No Scars by Nomadic Press. His work can be found or is forthcoming in WordsDance, Oracle Fine Arts Review, jmww’s Exquisite Duet, University of Hell, Drunk Monkeys, Hermeneutic Chaos and Yellow Chair Review. He loves movies, poker, whiskey, Firefly and a particularly beautiful and talented woman. He occupies Oakland, CA.

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

This entry is ©2016 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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