The Tattooed Poets Project: Laura White

Today's tattooed poet is Laura White, who was referred to us by the amazing Dorianne Laux. Dorianne is not inked, but, over the past three years, she has been invaluable as a resource for us, referring numerous tattooed poets to us who she knows in the poetry community, as well as several of her talented students, past and present.



So Laura sent us this photo which, if you ask me, is quite breathtaking:

Photo by Qlint Chesney, courtesy of Laura White

In it, you can see the extent to which she is tattooed, and she offered us this summary of several of her tattoos:

These tattoos were done by amazing Annie Frenzel, who used to be at Blue Flame Tattoo in Raleigh, N.C. but is now at Lowbrow Tattoo Parlour in Berlin, Germany. The bluebird on my shoulder was done about four years ago, and the half-sleeve finished up this past October. I was born and raised in Northeastern North Carolina, where the Eastern Bluebird is a common sight.

Detail of Photo by Qlint Chesney

Aside from being an absolutely beautiful, brilliantly blue and orange bird, they hold a special place in my heart because as a kid my grandparents had a nesting box behind their house. Together, we would keep an eye out on the little inhabitants, shooing away larger birds and guarding the nest from snakes and other predators. When my grandfather passed away about five years ago, I knew exactly how to grieve for him.

            The half-sleeve came later, and is a continuing tribute to the people and places that have made me who I am today.

Detail of Photo by Qlint Chesney

The three kinds of flowers are pink gerber daisies, red poppies, and orange tiger lilies, which my family and I always called cow lilies, because they grow wild in the pastures around our home. The gerber daisies are a personal favorite, because they are strikingly pretty, but in a spunky and fresh way. The poppies are a tribute to a trip I took to Turkey a few years back, in which I realized that the poppies that grow wild all over the Greek and Roman ruins are the same as the poppies that grow along the roadside in my own hometown. And the "cow" lilies, as suggested before, are a tribute to my parents and my childhood family. I remember a specific trip to my grandparents' house in which my dad pulled the car off on the side of the road, shooed us all out of the car, and helped us pick handfuls of lilies from the ditch by the road to take to our grandma.

            I'm far from finished with my body art  -- but maybe don't tell that to my mother. Something that I really hope to incorporate into these pieces one day is the last line of a Philip Larkin poem. It's from "An ArundelTomb," and I think it perfectly sums up not only my tattoo aesthetic, but my poetic one as well: "What will survive of us is love."

Laura also sent along this amazing poem:

My Man

I am a bundle 

of bruised attempts,

a pair of pursed lips,

ringed fingers trembling 

at the task again.

I bandage his fist,

all white gauze and 

wishes I would just 

be done already,

gather the broken glass 

of the curio cabinet, 

the specter of a sentence.      

I wear it like cracked  

concealer, his whiskey

hesitation, silent musing

which tends to bloom

violent in the evening.

Some nights

he just doesn't 

come home at all,

but goddamnit

how I love him.      

His mouth, 

a hot wash of pink

lilies struggling open,

the brown of a petal 

giving up.

His sun touch,

the frozen ground

absence of it.

His hands,            

wisteria when we

breathe together, when

my perfect words 

are his and

                        

Dear 

Dear

Dear       

Poetry

has to be

like this.  

  ~ ~ ~

Laura White is a Master's candidate in World Literature at North Carolina State University, and holds an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from the same institution. She's been writing since she could hold a crayon, and her first published poem appeared in a children's anthology when she was in fourth grade. Since then, though, she's taken an Emily Dickinson approach to poetry, and her work has only really appeared in the Windhover, NC State's Literary and Visual Magazine. One day, she'll have a book for you to buy. Promise.

Thanks so much to Laura for sharing her work, both tattooed and written. And thanks to Dorianne Laux for sending her my way. We here at Tattoosday appreciate it immensely!





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: Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

In the first post of this year's Tattooed Poets Project (here), Vicki Iorio described watching today's tattooed poet, Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan, recite verse while being tattooed. Here is that tattoo, along with some others:

Photograph by Mark Wells

The word "poet" in the center of the back is self-explanatory and was inked by Syxx, at Wyld Chyld Tattoo Studio. Above that is the name "Joey," who is Tammy's husband. That was done by an artist named Kenny at a shop called Z Connection. The piece on the right is a rose, with the names of Tammy's three children and their birth dates, inked by Bob at Tattoo Lou's on Long Island. Dave at Tattoo Lou's also did the memorial cross for Tammy's son Mike, who was killed in 1995. Tammy also has this tattoo on her foot:

That cat paw is for Tammy's cat, Maude, who passed away last October 10, and was done by Jimmy at Wyld Chyld.



Tammy also shared some of her poetry:

POEM#6



I am not the coca cola girl,

the Cheez-It tidbit waiting for you to taste,

the limo ride to the Yankee’s game,

the wrangler jeans chick baking in the New Mexico sun,

and I never was or will be Sunday mornings in spring.



I am the time-ticking-away second hand,

the flat tire on the side of the road,

the too high door jam,

the worn-out tooth brush,

the 59 cents in the ashtray,

the Lunch Poems dog-eared book,

and the who never forgets to tell the truth.

~ ~ ~

SPOONS



I remember when you spoon-fed me ice-cream as we lay in bed on that rainy afternoon

and the way your fingers tasted and your neck had a hint of sweat and I closed my eyes

and you drove away the dark and I called your name in a low, soft moan.



I remember when you spooned sugar into your morning tea on that sunny Tuesday

and I watched you drink as if you were a foreign film I could not understand

and your smile told me my poetry made you hunger for more than a nine-to-five life.



I remember when you spooned dirt into the flower pot and filled it with mums for me

and I was peeking out the window seeing you bent down working away humming

and I decided then that I was not who I wanted to be without you in my days and nights



And I remember how after you left I packed away all the silverware, including those

spoons and I gave the box to the Salvation Army, hoping for some salvation of my own

and I drove away from our town knowing I would never see another sunset like you.

~ ~ ~

Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan is a very busy woman. She was appointed Suffolk County Poet Laureate for 2009 – 2011. She is founder and president of The North Sea Poetry Scene, Inc. and The North Sea Poetry Scene Press. She was nominated for Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for her poetry book, Let Me Tell You Something. She is

listed in Poets & Writers, has penned 4 chapbooks, is Poet-in-Residence at Southampton Historical Museum, an adjunct Professor at Briarcliffe College, the editor of the Long Island Sounds Anthology. She hosts TNSPS’s Arts Forum TV Show on Channel 20 on Cablevision in Riverhead, N.Y. and serves as the Lead Poetry Jurist for the East End Arts Council, Riverhead, N.Y.



Currently, Tammy is creating an archival/arts center (www.lipoetryarchivalcenter.com) for Long Island poetry that will be a gathering place for poets. She is also currently working toward an M.F.A. at Southampton Stony Brook University.

Thanks to Tammy for sharing her work, both written and tattooed, 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: Katie Ford Hall

Today's tattooed poet is Katie Ford Hall.

Katie sent us this photo of her tattoo:

 

Katie explains:

I got my tattoo in 1992 when I was 25.  I had been considering a tattoo for awhile and decided on a Claddagh to honor my Irish roots.  My grandparents were immigrants and I look the part.  I've always felt very connected to Ireland and whether it's nature or nurture, I seem to embody a lot of the well-known characteristics.  For the design, I used a ring I had been wearing for years.  I consider it good luck because no matter how hard I try, I never seem to be able to lose it.  I took it to Designs By Dana in Cincinnati, Ohio and one of the artists copied it onto my left arm.

For a poem, Katie offered us this:

The Thing Itself

There’s a shadow

outside my kitchen window –

falling on Japanese maple;

sweeping over swing set.



A corner of the

eye distraction from

the scraping of a

crusty pan

then again a flicker

as I turn around to say

‘chicken’s ready’



there was a me

who became a secret –

when the time came for

a me

to set an example –



the secret dances across grass

on the cool dew of

thick summer nights



reckless and unbounded,

compelling and unglued.

oblivious to

consequences,

blind to

ramifications



Dancing

born of a

shame and hunger



denied by laughter

denied by wet heavy air

and denied again --



three times

before dawn



Sacrificed at

the altar of the

inevitable

And laid to rest

in the tomb of

the proper



A life that can’t be

sustained must be

set free,



traded for

half acre lots

stainless steel

appliances

and the dream of a

freer next

generation



But there’s

still that shadow.

I suspect

it’s me



and I suspect that

shadows

resurrected

fall just beyond an



infinity of

suburban

kitchen windows.



Never mentioned

barely noticed  

banished to

the edges of

anxious eyes

 ~  ~  ~

Katie Ford Hall is 43 years old and lives on the edge of civilization just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and two children.  Her poetry has appeared in several online and print journals including Chantarelle's Notebook, Ancient Heart Magazine, Women Writing for (a) Change anthologies and For A Better World 2005: Poems and Drawings on Peace and Justice by Greater Cincinnati Artists.  She contributed a story to When One Door Closes: Reflections from Women on Life's Turning Points and has written feature stories for CityBeat Magazine and Cincinnati Woman Magazine. These days, she can be found blogging all over the place, but mostly on Uneasy Pink, her blog about breast cancer-related issues.



Many thanks to Katie for sharing her poem and her tattoo 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: Steven D. Schroeder

Today's tattooed poet is Steven D. Schroeder, who sent us this photo of one of his three tattoos:

Steven explains about this, and his other two tattoos:

"I have three tattoos. The first is an eye at the base of my neck, which I acquired on a complete whim at the age of about 25 because I decided I should have a tattoo. I liked the design, but people frequently can't tell what it is, and the color washed out a little because I didn't yet know how to care for a tattoo. The second is a brain tattoo on my left shoulder. Shortly after I got that tattoo, I knew I would need a third, because I am obsessive-compulsively symmetrical about some things, and it drove me crazy to have only one shoulder marked. So this skull is on my right shoulder. Both the brain and skull came from a shop in Colorado Springs called R-U Tattooed, which I recommend."

Here's a "crisper" look:

Steven sent us this poem, whose title, he admits, he "stole" from "Autumn Begins in Martin's Ferry, Ohio," by James Wright:

Their Sons Grow Suicidally

Beautiful isn’t spoken aloud.

This Paxil lacks the overdose

Of those backseat lovers cold and cloud,

This nude bed’s not yet said screw yourself

Up to stick the point of the pen

In psychiatry’s eye, this dad adopts

Friend nicknames that amputate the end,

This laboratory test job offers options

Of food or shock from the buzzer button.

Eat that and shit and laminate

Paper tattooed with blueprints and batter

Your limbic system with bottles and sleep

Interrupted. They call it getting better.

~ ~ ~

Steven D. Schroeder’s first book of poetry is Torched Verse Ends (BlazeVOX [books]). 

His poems are available or forthcoming from Pleiades, The Journal, Copper Nickel, Sou’wester, and The Rumpus. He edits the online poetry journal Anti-, serves as a contributing editor for River Styx, and works as a Certified Professional Résumé Writer.

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: Karla Linden

Today's tattooed poet just missed the boat last year, contacting me after the month had already filled up. So, technically, Karla Linden, has waited the longest to see her contribution make it into the Tattooed Poets Project. Check out what she has offered up:

Well worth the wait, if you ask me!



Karla explains:

"This tattoo is a sacred symbol called a 'Hamsa' or 'Hand of Miriam' - it is traditionally for protection and also as a reminder of the five senses, melding in to a Sixth Sense.  Richie Castillo of Time Bomb Tattoo in San Antonio, Texas did it for me in June of 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live."

We've had several hamsa on Tattoosday before, but this one is certainly the most colorful and vibrant!



Karla also contributed this poem:

For the Further Progression of Literary Domination

* * * * * *



"Bind her wrists with

typewriter ribbons



and



tattoo

Anais Nin

quotes on

her thighs."



Blindfolded,

they pull you down

on the bed



newsprint laid out

underneath you



and



the needle

buzzes.



Words form on flesh in between the silence:



Dreams are necessary to life.



then



Each contact with a human being is so rare,

so precious,

one should preserve it. 



in Courier typeface,

letter by letter



You wish this dream would never end,

that

the pressure of her hands,

her mouth on yours

and

the hot tattoo needle

raising a welt

with each stroke

would go on 'til dawn.

~ ~ ~

Karla Linden, NMT, LMT (www.KarlaLinden.com) is a writer and massage therapist, living in New Mexico. She has over 130 hours "under the needle" and is both a tattoo and poetry enthusiast.

 

"Grinding Ink" and "Which Makes Me Love Her Even More", 2 of her poetry books, came out in 2010.  She always has plans for more poems, and more tattoos.



Thanks so much to Karla for her patience, her poetry, and her tattoo! We appreciate your contribution 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: 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.