Tampilkan postingan dengan label The Tattooed Poets Project. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label The Tattooed Poets Project. Tampilkan semua postingan

Sabtu, 16 April 2011

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.





Jumat, 15 April 2011

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.



Kamis, 14 April 2011

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.
 



Rabu, 13 April 2011

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.



Selasa, 12 April 2011

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.



Senin, 11 April 2011

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.



Minggu, 10 April 2011

It's National Poetry Month!

It's another April here on Tattoosday, which means its another installment of the Tattooed Poets Project. For thirty days in April, we will be featuring the tattoos of poets, along with a sample of their work. Unlike previous years, we will be including the contributor's poem in the post here, rather than in a separate parallel post on BillyBlog.



Regular "on the street" tattoos will take a break and resume here in May. For the last few months, I have been reaching out to poets nationwide, and collecting their tattoos to showcase here. You can check out the 2009 and 2010 poets in the index here.



Thanks to all who are involved, along with, but not exclusively, Stacey at the Best American Poetry blog, Dorianne Laux, and Patricia Carragon, who curates the Brownstone Poets, many of who are joining us this year.



Enjoy!



The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Henry Lee

Today's tattoo was submitted by Michael Henry Lee:






Photo courtesy of Michael Henry Lee
There's a lot going on here, so let's let Michael explain:



"The work pictured began about 36 years ago in Kansas City, Mo. I only remember the artist's name as John. The piece started with the stylized exotic bird's head that John took credit for as his own. A few years later I found the same piece on the back of a Mountain album cover. Imagine. Fast forward a couple of decades to a fantastic shop [Soul Expressions Tattoo Studio] in Temecula Ca. and an artist named Dan Adair. The sun and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah were added there. The sun was David's design and the Lion comes from the Ethiopian flag borrowed from a Bob Marley album. The conceptual idea was mine and is meant to be symbolic of the Christian trinity: Father (as the sun), the Son (as the Conquering Lion) and our old buddy the bird (as the holy spirit). The seven is symbolic of the biblical number of completion and is repeated three times. The piece was just retouched and colored last year in Saint Augustine, Florida, by Tattoo Mike from Tattoo Garden."
Michael also offered up several short poems, including some haiku:





"tattoo impressions"
    van goes home
stepping out in a starry night    



(first appeared in graffiti kolkata Aug 2010)



~


tattoo garden
 the blush returns
 to mother's rose


~


What Love’s Got to do with It


It was rumored of late
that Love;
is suffering from a stolen identity


Eros has hacked into Agape
like the evil twin exchanged at birth;
     Ying for Yang
           The Pauper for the Prince
                    Cain for Abel


The imposter has taken control
using seduction and guile
to manipulate the hearts and minds
of whoever might be deceived


Love’s calling all investors
Setting the record straight
Distancing itself from a nefarious sibling


Love does not
          sell cars, clothes, food, or personal hygiene products
Love knows
          the grass isn’t greener in the next field,
          and besides brown is highly underrated anyway
Love always makes deposits
          but not withdrawals
Love is patient as water
          smoothing stone          
Love knows the worst
          but hopes for the best
Love bites its tongue and swallows its pride
Love looks at the heart
          not: boobs, biceps, or bank accounts
Love is the first one into a burning building
          an the last one off a sinking ship
Love builds
         Marriages
             Families
                  and  Nations 
                                                            
Love is an invisible necessity
         like  time, gravity, and oxygen


Love is beyond time and space


Eternal


Unconditional


                          a
                         gift
                    a promise
            one poured out for all 
                     that they
                       might
                        know
                         that
                         God
                           is
                           L
                           O
                           V
                           E


"What Love's Got to do with It" first appeared in Heart Pour The Love Book from Poet Plant Press, 2011


~




Michael Henry Lee is a husband, father and grandfather. He and his wife of 30 years reside in St. Augustine, Florida; the nation’s oldest city, along with two cats, and numerous bonsai trees.


Michael is a member of Ancient City Poets and the Haiku Society of America. The last Sunday of every month generally finds him at the Heart Pour Matinee; an open mic poetry reading that features seasoned artists as well as new talents. 


Mr. Lee serves as contributing co-editor for Poet Plant Press, and is a frequent contributor to Haiku News, and Haiku Ramblings. His work has appeared in Berry Blue Haiku, and Graffiti Kolkata He was voted among the favorites in the 2009 Alibi Weekly annual haiku contest, and was awarded third place prize in the Yukei Teikei Annual Tokutomi Haiku Contest for 2010.


Mr. Lee is quoted as saying “my objective is to express the good news and mystery of life in every breath, through the simplicity of haiku”.


Thanks to Michael Henry Lee for sharing his tattoo and his work with us here on Tattoosday!





This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poems are 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.