The Tattooed Poets Project: Karissa Knox Sorrell

Our next tattooed poet is Karissa Knox Sorrell, who shared this tattoo:

Karissa had this to say about this pretty blue butterfly tattoo on her lower left leg:

"I wanted a butterfly to represent metamorphosis and becoming, and it's blue because that was my late brother's favorite color. The top wings are flames to represent my voice in the world - may the words I create be both a light to others and also burn with truth. The baby footprints are for my miscarriages. The bottom wings are vines to represent the creative power of women. This is not just the power to carry a child and give birth, but to also bring life-giving art into the world. I love the symbolism of flight, feminism, and freedom in this tattoo! I got this tattoo at Needle Bent Tattoo in Gallatin, Tennessee. The artist did a great job of collaborating with me and creating what I wanted. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name." 

Karissa also shared the following poem, which was originally published at Silver Birch Press and can also be found in her chapbook:

Chrysalis

I am waiting for a god I can touch.

I am waiting to feel the world turning,

to sense myself moving at a thousand

miles an hour. I am waiting to shout

to the universe I am here! To hope that

something out there is silent enough

to hear me. I am waiting to birth

a voice that echoes.

I am waiting for another I am,

for the incense of burning bush

on the air, for something I might recognize

as miracle, which might be as

quiet as a naked branch in winter

or my son’s heartbeat beneath my fingers.

I am waiting for the stars

to explain themselves instead

of disappearing into the past.

I am waiting for the earth

to rise up and claim itself

away from us. I am waiting for

an earthquake to split the chrysalis

wide open until every tethered

winged thing breaks into flight.

~ ~ ~

Karissa Knox Sorrell is a poet and ESOL teacher. She is the author of Evening Body, a poetry chapbook published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems can be seen in literary journals such as Two Cities Review, Blue Heron Review, Gravel Mag, and Cactus Heart. Karissa lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her family of four. Read more about Karissa's work or buy her book at karissaknoxsorrell.com. Find her on Twitter @KKSorrell.

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

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