This tattoo is on my husband's forearm, it was completed by Tony Adamson - and was a testament to my husband accepting Christ in his life.
Tattooing is an art, do not be mistaken - to watch Tony (my tattoo artist) freehand a piece of art onto ever shifting skin is fascinating to say the least. The tattoos I choose, and my husband chooses all have significant meanings to them - but why let many small needles impale my skin repeatedly for several hours to make a lifetime statement? For me, enduring that few hours of pain compared to the lifetime I have had to deal with it helps me remember how proud I am to be alive, the pain reminds me I am alive and since I am not shy about what the tat stands for, perhaps it can inspire someone else. The rose down my spine stands for my fight with bipolar disorder and suicidal ideations; the purple butterfly is the me who is emerging from under all the fat after having the gastric bypass; the cross with the rose stands for my fight with death (the death who took my parents early). They remind me that in all things beauty can prevail.
So that is all fine and dandy - but how does that effect my poetry? Its the same desire for expression that inspires me to be ink to skin as does inspire me to put pen to paper. But I have also been inspired by watching Tony, the detail with which he inks someone. He understands the concept, he puts a little piece of his soul into the painting and the customer is merely living canvas. How can one not be inspired by this under appreciated art form?
1 comment:
The only thing that keeps me from getting a tattoo is age. I can't imagine what the tattoos are going to look like at age 80. Actually, that is sort of a lie because I've seen what they look like on some of those old Veterans and that keeps me from ever getting a tattoo.
It is however another form of expression that speaks volumes about the person and their tastes and investment in their own bodies. You can never fault a person for expressing themselves. Self-expression is a huge part of what we do as poets.
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