Three for Thursday, Part 1- Mariama Lockington on the Tattooed Poets Project

I reached out to our next tattooed poet, Mariama Lockington, back in February and she responded with an intriguing story and photo:

As one can see, those are three tattoos on three wrists. And, yes, one is Mariama's, and the other two belong to poets, as well! The three tattoos are inspired by the following photo of Mariama dancing on Venice Beach during sunset:

She explained, "it's the image we decided best represents our friendship," and, to her personally, "it symbolizes freedom, friendship, and curiosity."

So, today, we will be celebrating three tattooed poets, all with linked tattoos. The other poets, Lauren Whitehead and Molly Raynor, will have posts appearing later today.

(left to right) Mariama Lockington, Lauren Whitehead and Molly Raynor

Here's Mariama's poetic contribution:

so we never

for molly and lauren

here is a prayer for the bottoms of our feet

worn tough from neon colored sandals bought for

9.99 at the superstore on e. 14th  that also sold

leggings in every sexy girl pattern you could imagine

fake eyelashes and nail jewels & don’t forget

the banana hoop earrings as big a circus rings

we hung from our ears like ornaments, even though

our mamas warned of stretched lobes & infections

here is a prayer for how thick we were in those first months

our thighs rubbing together, making church songs

as we walked the lake eating breakfast sandwiches

stuffed with bacon & avocado

ignoring the thirty-something year olds

sweat-faced & out of breath passing us on either side

here is a prayer for short skirts & thai iced tea

the shady corner of an empty baseball field

where we stacked books of poetry next to half filled journals

smoked blunts or snuck sips of warm mimosas

while we scribbled urgent love letters to ourselves

along with the rhythm of shirtless men

playing basketball on the courts behind us

here is a prayer for our twenty-three year old bodies

for our self-assured yet searching hips

for the hands that attempted to guide our movement

into sticky corners of sound at kittys, lukas, or baobabs

for our dances that could not be contained or predicted

for standing on speakers & whispering into the ear of a DJ

for the wild-yell in our throats when our song came on

for the fake numbers & secret kisses & quick fucks

we owned because we were curious, because we wanted

here is a prayer for how we flung ourselves into lonely

our new womanhood all wrapped up in the mouth of the bay

for the dinosaurs stretching their necks out to us in greeting

as we emerged from the West Oakland tunnel at 1am

our heads slammed full of dizzy visions while our arms

swayed at our sides with the kick & kink of the train

here is a prayer for driving in a minivan along the 1

the coast moving next to us like a great whale

for the cliffs we dangled our legs from

the beaches we carved our names into

for the jade & driftwood & crab shells we gathered

all our evidence of being lost & broken & still free

   

here is a prayer for us, my hearts  

so we never forget how to return

~ ~ ~

Mariama J. Lockington is the author of the poetry chapbook The Lucky Daughter (Damaged Goods Press, 2017), and her novel-in-verse Questions I Have For Black Girls Like Me is forthcoming from Farrar, Straus, and Giroux— Books for Young Readers in 2019. Mariama calls many places home, but currently lives in Lexington, KY. You can find more of her work at www.mariamajlockington.com.

Thanks to Mariama (and Molly and and Lauren, in advance) for sharing their poems and tattoos with us here on The Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday! Be sure to come back later today to see Molly and Lauren's poems!

This entry is ©2018 Tattoosday. The poems and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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