Russell Jaffe on the Tattooed Poets Project

Our second tattooed poet today is Russell Jaffe, who shared two tattoos:

Russell tells us:

"The 'I LOVE YOU' I got in 2010 in Iowa city. I don't remember the place. The tattoo artist blasted the shit out of my arm and it HURT! But I got it because I was undergoing a massive seismic shift in my personality and understanding of the world: that I could not always control what happened to me, but I could control my responses. I have always been very emotional. By approaching people with love and holding myself to that, I could be a better self and a better person."

He also shared this piece on his hand:

Russell explains:

"The second one was done in 2016 at Skin Abrasions (what a name) in Oak Park, where I live now. My wife, Carleen Tibbetts, and I met through poetry; we both got into the same journal together, H_NGM_N. We talked, and she had no game at all, sent me questions about submitting to a journal she ran and asking me about edits. It wasn't until Cassandra Gillig suggested she send this kissy face that I realized she was into me--I had totally been into her!

Life is so strange and funny. Any teeny, tiny hole in the fabric of the day's minutia can be torn open to reveal keyholes to other worlds entirely. Entire wonderlands and alternate realities. We've been together 3 years and have a 2 and a half year old! This tattoo is like my love for Carleen: endlessly makes me happy, a reminder, never going away. On my hand, it's with me in whatever I do, front and center."

Russell shared the following poem, which he notes that he loves, "but Carleen hates." Adding, "No one will publish it!" Until now!

FLORET SPRUNG

Life is a floret sprung
Yeah

~ ~ ~

Russell Jaffe is the editor of TL;DR magazine, a magazine of what's now. He is the author of the poetry collections This Super Doom I Aver (Poets Democracy, '13), INTROVERT // EXTROVERT (Punk Hostage, '14), Civil Coping Mechanisms (Civil Coping Mechanisms, forthcoming '17) and the chapbook LA CROIX WATER (Damask Press, 16). ☄️

Thanks to Russell for sharing his tattoos and poem with us here on the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2017 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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