Saturday, May 31, 2014

Claire's Tree of Life

I was at the Canal Street subway station waiting for the N train to Brooklyn when I spotted a young woman with this thigh tattoo:


She told me her name was Claire and that she got this Tree of Life tattoo because she has suffered from epilepsy since she was a little girl.

The tree is accompanied by an Irish blessing that serves as a reminder that angels are watching over her. It reads:
"May you always walk in sunshine. May you never want for more. May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door."
She credited the work to an artist named Jackie at a shop in Staten Island, New York.

Thanks to Claire for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Tattooed Poets Project: Catherine Bresner

Our next Tattooed Poet o' the Week is Catherine Bresner.

She sent us photos of two of her tattoos, starting with this literary ink:



The line that marches across Catherine's collarbone and around her shoulder is "mi corazón se cierra como una flor nocturna."

Catherine explains,
"My first tattoo is on my collarbone and is a line from one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda. It is from his poem 'I Have Gone Marking', which is in Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. The translation is 'My heart closes like a nocturnal flower'. I grew up near the ocean and in this way I suppose I have always felt a sort of kinship with Neruda. We both draw inspiration from the sea."
She also shared this one:


Catherine explains:
"My second tattoo is on my upper arm, and it is part of Aubrey Beardsley's illustration entitled "The Peacock Skirt" (1893).
Aubrey Beardsley was an Art Nouveau artist and author. This is the image that Oscar Wilde used to promote his tragedy Salome, and it depicts the Syrian Captain of the Guard who casts his gaze on Salome.

I am haunted by Beardsley's artwork, and by this picture in particular, because it is seductive and sinister. I also loved the story behind its origination, as Beardsley and Wilde often collaborated together in order to create their art.
Both tattoos were done by the very talented Tim Brewer, who owns a tattoo shop in Hadley, Massachusetts called Blueprint Gallery."
Catherine was also kind enough to share the following unpublished poem:

LACUNA


The ivy presses against the window pane as if this room were the sun—as if this was the center
of everything, here, among the tables and books. The pillars are endless, their flirtations growing
like ivy from beneath floorboards; they nuzzle the skylight panes.

(Outside: the bird caw and the daisy’s slow decay.)

Everything is sinuous and coy, each wallpaper detail like a belly dancer, exotic and surprising.
Each lampshade, a crocus. Walls are not walls here.
In the orange light of a sunset, the cherry wood glows like the first ember in a forest fire.
This room gives off its own light.

Outside, the wind pulls at the last patch of grass until it turns tawny and brittle. The sun is a gas
lamp dimming out.

~ ~ ~

Catherine Bresner is the author of the chapbook The Merriam Webster Series. She was the editorial assistant of Pilot Books, an intern for The Massachusetts Review, and a participant of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. Her poetry has been published in The Pinch, H_NGM_N, and Burntdistrict and has poetry forthcoming in The Cream City Review and Yemassee, where she was a finalist for the Pocataligo Poetry Contest. She is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at The University of Washington, Seattle, where she is the associate editor for The Seattle Review and an intern at Wave Books.

Thanks to Catherine for her contribution to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.


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.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Fatcat Lives on Through Joel's Tattoo

I was passing through Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan when I spotted this cat tattoo on a guy named Joel:


Joel was kind enough to share Fatcat with us, and explained:
"...When I was born, my family had three dogs and three cats and this one cat lived till he was 21. So, I had him my whole life, from when I was born to when I was 18 ... he died and I got him tattooed on me ... Basically, I have him with me ... my whole life ... so he lives with me forever."
He added:
"This is the only animal tattoo I'm going to have, I'm not going to become a walking graveyard of animals. I have a cat now and I flat out said, unless you live to longer than twenty-one, you're not getting a tattoo."
Joel doesn't remember where he got Fatcat inked, other than some shop somewhere in Montclair, New Jersey.

Thanks, Joel, for sharing Fatcat with us here on Tattoosday. Now, he lives on forever on the internet, too!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Joe's Back Piece Honors His Grandfathers


On this Memorial Day, we're appreciating this back piece on Joe, who I met at the NYC Tattoo Convention back in March.

When he shared this with me back at Roseland, I knew I'd be saving it for Memorial Day, especially after Joe explained, ""One of my grandparents was in the Air Force, the other one was in the Navy, so I did the World War II scene with airplanes ... and navy boats - I have battleship and I have an aircraft carrier."

This impressive piece took a little over forty hours and was inked by Kenny Restrepo at Leathernecks Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Joe for sharing his back piece with us here on Tattoosday, and for helping us honor and thank all the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in service to our country!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.


If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Start Your Three-Day Weekend with These Three Amazing Tattoos from Hannah

I recently spotted Hannah outside of the West 4th Street subway station and the cherry blossom tattoo on her upper right arm seemed like a perfect way to celebrate spring:


That photo alone made me happy, but Hannah generously offered to also share her favorite tattoo, pulling down her shirt slightly to reveal this cool heart on her chest:


And then, for good measure, she showed me her third tattoo, this stunning watercolor dragonfly on her hip:


What a lucky inkblogger I was to find such amazing work on such a generous contributor!

Hannah credits all of her tattoos to Zera Anderson from Brite Idea Tattoo in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Regarding the tree on her arm, she explained, "I told [Zera] I wanted cherry blossoms and that I really like watercolor-type designs and so she basically just freehand, just did it." She added, "the same with all of them, actually."

Thanks to Hannah for sharing her wonderful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.


If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Tattooed Poets Project: Guillermo Filice Castro

In our weekly post-April Tattooed Poet o' the Week continuation of the Tattooed Poets Project, our next contributor is Guillermo Filice Castro:

Photo by Mark Papellero
Guillermo told us:
"I met the tattoo artist Nikki Lugo (currently at Tattoo Paradise in Washington DC) about ten years ago through my partner back when they were roommates. I had wanted a tattoo for a long time ––notion reinforced by having a new boyfriend with lots of ink–– but had been dillydallying, unsure of what to get and, mostly, afraid of the pain. Knowing I was a writer Nikki suggested one day, 'You should get a quill!' It was the perfect idea. With my birthday coming up, she offered to do it herself as a present to me. How could I refuse that? And when the time came, whatever trepidation I may have had vanished as soon as Nikki’s needle touched my skin, yielding a wonderful design at the cost of no pain."
Guillermo shared the following poem, which appeared in the April issue of The Brooklyn Rail:

Self-Portrait with Musician

Sometimes the heart strikes out noisily,
Leaps into a grand piano like a stunt man.
Green-eyed, an almost green voice:
She leaps out of a grand piano like a stunted man,
Resurfaces reptilian, shedding scales.
She’s a whisper inside a box of wails,
An amphibian on the surface, adding scales
To leave the swamp dressed for a part.
I too whisper from inside a box of veils,
Rustle up a melody that comes apart
Leaving the water in a dress from K-Mart.
She sings over sweeps of pedal steel,
Rustles up a harmony that quickly comes part
Of my flesh. More and more I would steal
From this lady singing over sweet pedal steel:
The green eyes; and the pale green noise
That sinks into flesh as much as it might heal
Whenever the heart strikes, without a voice.




                                                           
                                                                                            For Chan Marshall a.k.a. Cat Power

~ ~ ~


Guillermo Filice Castro is the recipient of an Emerge-Surface-Be fellowship. His poems appear in Assaracus, Barrow Street, The Brooklyn Rail, Court Green, The Bellevue Literary Review, Ducts, LaFovea, Quarterly West, and more; as well as the anthologies Rabbit Ears, Flicker & Spark, Divining Divas, My Diva, Saints of Hysteria, and others. His translations of Olga Orozco, in collaboration with Ron Drummond, appear in Guernica, Terra Incognita, U.S. Latino Review, and Visions. In 2012 his work was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya prize. Castro lives in New York City.

Thanks to Guillermo for his contribution to The Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.


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.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Natalie's Sugar Skull

I was exiting a bank at the corner of Broadway and Beaver yesterday, when I bumped into Natalie, who was kind enough to share this black and gray sugar skull she designed:


Natalie drew up this design and had it inked by Leo at Torres Tattoos in Brooklyn (at their South Slope location).

Thanks to Natalie for sharing this cool sugar skull with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

From the Archives: Kyle's Take on Heaven and Hell

When you are a grand old blog like Tattoosday (turning 7 this year), you earn the right to change "reposts" into "from the archive" posts. This one is from May of 2008:



I initially just saw the bottom of this tattoo, an inverted cityscape poking out from under a sleeve. Quite unusual, so I had to stop Kyle and ask. We were on 7th Avenue, and I was using the borrowed Sony Cyber-shot of a co-worker (thanks, Tina!). Kyle rolled up his sleeve and blew me away.

The detail and color of the tree were breath-taking. And if you click on the initial photo to enlarge it, the detail in the buildings is astonishing, with color on the billboards and light emanating from some of the tiny windows.



The concept behind this piece, Kyle explained, is that the country is Heaven and the city is Hell, separated by a layer of purgatorial clouds. He was raised in upstate New York, far from the five boroughs of New York City and its eight million-plus inhabitants.

This work was inked by Myles Karr at Saved Tattoo in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. [Myles now works out of Three Kings.]

Thanks to Kyle for sharing this piece with Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2008, 2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Tattoosday Walks Into a Bar... And Sees a Sleeve of Skulls

In a new feature here on Tattoosday, we're going to periodically celebrate the ink I find in bars. In addition to the tattoo, I'll talk a little about the establishment as well.

We're starting off with a place near and dear to me - Lock Yard in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.


Located in a former locksmith storefront, Lock Yard specializes in artisan sausages and a constantly changing menu of delicious craft beers. It has become a new home away from home, and I moseyed over yesterday for a Sunday brunch brew.

I sat down on a stool and ordered a Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale from Jason behind the bar.

And as I sipped on this delicious pale ale, Jason shared his sleeve of skulls:



Jason credited this work to Marc Larsen, from Groove Tattoo, also in Bay Ridge.

Jason told me he got this work from Marc because he likes skulls a lot. "I just like the way they look," he added, "different types ... different faces ... everything I have on here, he drew on freehand, no stencils involved."

Thanks to Jason for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday, and to the folks over at Lock Yard, for their ongoing hospitality and steady flow of delicious beer!



This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.


Friday, May 16, 2014

Harlie Celebrates the Day of Outrageous Flair with a Jellyfish Tattoo

Two weeks ago, I met Harlie in Sheridan Square in the West Village.

I was hanging out with my wife and some friends after visiting Holey Donuts when Harlie walked up and started talking to friends nearby. The tattoo on the back of her left calf prompted me to ask her about it:


Harlie credited this piece to Ian at All Star Tattoos in Tacoma, Washington. "I brought him a bunch of different types of jellyfish," she explained. She is from Tacoma and elaborated, "I just grew up on a bay that had a lot of jellyfish and it's nostalgic for me and I think they're beautiful creatures."

She also shared this small tattoo on her wrist:



This was also inked at All Star, but  by another artist named Ryan. Harlie explained that this design is from a book called The Secret Language of Birthdays and that this symbol represents her birthday, May 16, also known as the "Day of Outrageous Flair."


It seemed fitting that I save this post for today, which is Harlie's birthday, the Day of Outrageous Flair.

Happy Birthday, Harlie! Thanks for sharing your ink with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.


If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Ladies, Ladies! 3rd Annual Art Show, Opening Tonight in Brooklyn!

Looking for something coo to do tonight in Brooklyn? Head over to the Ladies, Ladies! Art Show 2014 at Eight of Swords Tattoo in Williamsburg.


Curated by Miss Elvia and friend of Tattoosday, Magje Serpica, this art show kicks off tonight with an opening party, from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm.


This is the third incarnation of this event that celebrated women tattoo artists and their work.

Artists include Rose Hardy, Ashley Love, Kate Hellenbrandt, Kit King, Drew Linden, Karen Glass, Alix Ge, Anna Melo, Mina Aoki, Marie Sena, Alexandra Skarsgård, Debra Yarian, Lara Scotton, Bruna Yonashiro, Gillian Goldstein, Miss Marshall, Lola Garcia, Viola von Hell, Zoe Bean, Dana Melissa Dixon, and many more.

The event is sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and Jack From Brooklyn.

There will be an after party held at Passenger Bar (S3rd and Roebling). Drink specials all night with the show flyer, so be sure to pick one up before you leave!

Come one, come all, and celebrate some amazing female tattoo artists!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The Tattooed Poets Project: Amy MacLennan

Late last month, I received an inquiry from Amy MacLennan about the Tattooed Poets Project. April was already full, but she was kind enough to agree to be another Tattooed Poet o' the Week. Check out her work:


That's a mirror image and is a little blurry, so let's take a close look and hear about the work.


Amy tells us:
"The original tattoo was done in a London studio by the artist Bugs in 1992. He agreed to do the design freehand with the stipulation that I brought him a peacock feather. I was working in a cheap youth hostel at the time, but a friend managed to find the feather for me. I remember that Bugs told me to drink a lot of water and eat something sugary after. I drank a blended mango drink and then had a good cry with a friend, and later that night got drunk on stout. The tattoo has had two color touch-ups, but I've never had the design changed."
Bugs is a phenomenal artist who is respected worldwide. We've featured some of his work before when we've spotted it at the NYC Tattoo Convention in years past (most recently here).

The floral part of her back is actually comprised of two different tattoos of flowers:


Amy told us that the small flowers were tattooed in 2012 "by Kory Kidd at Epic Ink in Medford, Oregon." She explained, "I wanted something flowery and red/coral toned. Kory worked with me endlessly to get the design and color right."

As for the large flower, she elaborates:
"In 2013, Kory added this one. I wanted to cover a small, grey salamander that I'd had done in the Fillmore in 1990 when I was young and desperately stupid when it came to tattoos. My intentions for a first tattoo had been good, but my choice of tattoo artist was not. I needed more color and balance to the work already done."
If Amy wasn't generous enough to share her tattoos, she also gave us a poem, which originally appeared in February 2014 in the 30/30 Project from Tupelo Press:


Heat and Hunger

You kiss the top of one shoulder,
a run of your lips across the strip
where my bra strap hits.
I trace circles at the place
your fingers meet your hand,
stroke the mild webbing there.
A dainty scorching
of each other's skin,
such a delicate devouring.

~ ~ ~

Amy MacLennan lives and writes in Ashland, Oregon. She has been published in Hayden's Ferry Review, River Styx, Linebreak, Cimarron Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Folio, and Rattle. Her second chapbook, Weathering, was published by Uttered Chaos Press in early 2012. She has a poem appearing in the anthology Myrrh, Mothwing, Smoke: Erotic Poems that was published by Tupelo Press in March 2013. Her article 'Social Networking and Poetry Publishing' appeared in the 2011 Poet's Market. You can find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/amy.maclennan.

Thanks to Amy for contributing to the Tattooed Poets Project, beyond April, here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Tattooed Poets Project: Fox Frazier-Foley

In case you hadn't had enough of the Tattooed Poets Project in April, we will be continuing, while supplies last, with featuring tattooed poets here on Tattoosday. I mean, why should we have to wait until April to celebrate tattoos and poetry? Fox Frazier-Foley is happy to be our first Tattooed Poet of the Week.


Fox tells us:
"This tattoo was done as part of a thigh sleeve by Jess Morsey, who runs her own business, Mad Tatter Ink, in upstate New York. The sleeve has four panels; the first three are each a different representation of a venerated spirit known as St. Bridget (in the Catholic Church, she is seen as St. Patrick's equal, the patroness of Ireland, and a woman who held authority and education that was unparalleled for her time, especially within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church), Maman Brigitte (in the Haitian Vodou tradition, of which I am an initiate), and Brighid (the Celtic goddess of healing, poetry, and smithcraft).
The fourth panel is a scroll with a quote from the Catholic St. Bridget: 'We become that which we love.' 
Overall, the sleeve symbolizes different aspects of my religious and cultural identity - my family is Irish by heritage, I was raised Catholic, and later in life I converted to Haitian Vodou (a syncretic religion that blends elements of African Tribal Religions with Roman Catholicism), and was formally initiated into the religion. For me, these images are a source of strength and inspiration, and they remind me that if I take the time to love the deepest and most regal aspects of myself, those aspects will thrive, and my identity will develop in a beautiful way, as will my ability to help create joy, beauty, and healing in a world that too often feels cruel, broken, and lacking."
Here's a collage of the combined tattoos, courtesy of the artist:


Fox sent along the following poem, which she says "is about a positive experience of spirit possession."

St. Gemini is Possessed by Silibo Nouvavou, St. Revelation, and Begins to Breathe Psalm 42:7

                                   

as a child, I set books
of matches ablaze                  (Deep calleth unto deep)        my lungs convulse
                                                                                                to tautness. Known blue

                        in pools of water. She has
                        been me & I her daughter     wasp breaks between
                                                                                    my fingers, now

                                    (at the sound of thy waterfalls)
     someone will enter –


            her Self made flesh

            again. O sacred Scarlet          unwinged, its painless
                                                                splinter mangled


    a birth of monarch
                        flutters through my throat        Silibo –

                                    (all thy waves and billows)

                                                            Woman cloaked in sun
                                                                        & starry night. We are


                                    come to burning. I feel
            myself retreat: her swaying,

                        blued-rush entry. I find myself

                                                               complete: one in gasp

                                                                        then laugh  (gone over me)  my borders

                                   
                        blurred with blue: burst
                                                                                    we know that which

                                                                                    we are            we are




                                                beyond my body’s private star

~ ~ ~

Fox Frazier-Foley is founder and Managing Editor at a nifty little press called Ricochet Editions. She received her MFA from Columbia University, and is currently a Provost's Fellow and PhD candidate in the Literature & Creative Writing program at University of Southern California. Her website is currently under construction, but you can find her on Facebook, and in the pages of journals such as Paterson Literary Review, Denver Quarterly, Western Humanities Review, THEThe Poetry Blog, Jerry, Spillway, and Mantis. She loves travel, gin fizzes, and her dog, Dalí Nimbus. She and Rod Serling share a hometown.

Thanks to Fox Frazier-Foley for sharing her tattoos and poem with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Jonce Shares His Permanent Wedding Band

I met Jonce on Broad Street while leaving work yesterday. I stopped to talk to him when I noticed his hand and the name tattooed on it:


Jonce explained:
"This is my wife's name, Kate. We've been married ten years and I got it three, four years ago, I think now ...  I used to wear a wedding band but I used to do a lot of rock climbing ... so I would take it off a lot, so I just decided to do the tattoo."
The artist was his friend Keith Johnson, currently working out of Suicide J.A.C.K. Tattoo in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Thanks to Jonce for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Celeste's 8 Point Buck for Her Grandfather

Last week I was walking on a subway platform in Brooklyn when I passed a woman with an amazing tattoo on her upper left arm:


Fortunately, Celeste, the owner of this great tattoo, was happy to share it with us and she explain its origin:
"My grandfather, in 1950, he shot a deer that was the biggest 8 Point buck that was shot for ten years in New York State ... My family still has the bust of the deer so I took pictures of it and I gave it to my artist ... the branch is for a tree that I used to climb in his back yard ... and there are also tree rings throughout the design."
Her artist is Grant Lubbock from Red Baron Ink, on the Lower East Side of New York City.

Thanks to Celeste for taking the time to share her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website 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.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

A Word of Thanks from Tattoosday

I have now had a few days to decompress after the 6th Annual celebration of tattooed poets on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project.

I wanted to take a brief moment to offer up thanks to our record number of contributors and to a few people who helped make this year such an embarrassment of riches.

Thanks again to Stacey Harwood and David Lehman from The Best American Poetry blog. Each year they support Tattoosday by helping solicit contributors and publicize the month. They encouraged me from the beginning, back in 2009, and their continued enthusiasm for Tattoosday means the world to me.

Also, I want to thank Tara Betts, a non-inked poet, whose question on Facebook about tattooed poets provided me with a whole squadron of new contributors, six appearing in the past month alone (and many more, in the future I hope). Tara even photographed a handful of her peers at AWP in Seattle this year. Her support has been invaluable.

We ended up featuring 54 tattooed poets in April's 30 days, we double-posted on all but 6 days of the month.

Believe it or not, at one point there were over a hundred interested poets, so we've clearly not finished celebrating inked wordsmiths. That said, we are going to be handling the overflow with a "tattooed poet o' the week" indefinitely throughout the year. I mean, why should we only celebrate tattoos and poetry in April?

Of course, I also want to thank you, the readers, who have offered nothing but kindness and enthusiasm for the work we do here on Tattoosday. Blogging can be a lonely process, but the Tattooed Poets Project is a community, and I am grateful to not only our contributors, but our readers.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!