The Story of My Ink

I got one tattoo and I had it for 20 years. I had it done during the most troublesome years of my life. We marked our bodies for different reasons - some as part of cultural heritage, some to serve as remembrance and some just do it because of peer pressure.

I am interested to know how you happen to have yours and the story behind the tattoo itself.

One entry
Could be old or new write
Two weeks

I want to know the story of your ink thru your ink.

Lifeline - Breaking Point ( Tattoo On My Arms)

©Oxy2016Dup/NaPoWriMo 2016  
All Rights Reserved  

Fads, peer pressure,
Pure pleasure, wanton abandon,
Indulgence, bored indifference...
All of the above, I gave onto.

Gin addiction, night life,
Men, money, controlled substance,
Pseudo smiles, bleeding inside...
Reality check, I can't go into.

Decisions made, hardened resolve,
In front of a fourteen inch black and white T.V.
Drinking gin to numb the pain,
A needle in a dynamo pierced my left arm with waves and curves.

Black ink marked me for life...
Reminding me of who I really am.
And as the wound heals, so did I.
I walked away, never to look back.

Entry removed

Here's an old one:

Six Dots


Six Dots, my tattoo,
The ink is sea-blue.
Three on the top,
To mark where to stop,
Three down below
For how far to go.
Tiny, they are
Like freckles, by far,
You might nearly miss them
Lest you know where to find them.
Positioned, rectangle
To get the right angle
Each day after day
For a dose of the rays
That burned my chest red,
‘Til the cancer was dead.
Yes, I have ink,
But not like you think;
This type was not wanted
It just leaves me haunted.
I still smell ozone
From when I was alone
In the lead-lined room
‘Neath  the accelerator boom
As it rotated around
With harsh, buzzing sounds,
Frying, and frying
So I would not be dying.

Trix, tods and.Madam L. Thanks so much for your entries.
Hugzzzz.
Oxy

http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/images/uploads/avatars/RevolutionAL.jpg

Safely Pinned




Pinned through the  
epidermis  
hanging from chains  
The hand prints  
from birth  
of each of my children  
in their favorite  
colors;
permanently at my side  

The missing  
print  
for the angel  
in heaven  
turning clouds into  
kindergarten, playgrounds  

Chained separately  
as distinctly  
apart  
as their  
mothers  
are  

I keep their tags  
safe  
safe in my care  
As safely  
as I keep them  
in my heart  
and  
mind  

Connected
forever  
at my side  

-x-  

RevolutionAL said:http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/images/uploads/avatars/RevolutionAL.jpg

Safely Pinned

Pinned through my
epidermis
hanging from chains
the hand prints
of birth
of each of my children
in their favorite
colors
permanently at my side

The missing
print
for the angel
in heaven
turning clouds into
kindergarten playgrounds

Chained separately
as distinctly
apart
as their
mothers
are

I keep their tags
safe
safe in my care
as safely
as I keep them
in my heart
and
mind

connected forever
at my side

-x-




Beatiful ink and I mean both ways.
Thank you for your entry.

http://img05.deviantart.net/b551/i/2016/138/a/1/tattoo_by_dejureinitiative-da2zra0.jpg


because I.. because you...

I am an idiot because I listen to your shit
You are a genius because you don't get shit from me

I am crazy because your world isn't for me
You are smart because it is your world

I am a racist because you always find the difference
You are tolerant because I don't see the difference

I am a son of a bitch because you see women as bitches
Your mother is an angel because I see good in all women

I am a weirdo because you create the society
You are a leader because I don't play your game

I am a sinner because your eyes are evil
You are a saint because my eyes are pure




DUP link: http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/214845-because-i-because-you/

dejure said:
http://img05.deviantart.net/b551/i/2016/138/a/1/tattoo_by_dejureinitiative-da2zra0.jpg


because I.. because you...

I am an idiot because I listen to your shit
You are a genius because you don't get shit from me

I am crazy because your world isn't for me
You are smart because it is your world

I am a racist because you always find the difference
You are tolerant because I don't see the difference

I am a son of a bitch because you see women as bitches
Your mother is an angel because I see good in all women

I am a weirdo because you create the society
You are a leader because I don't play your game

I am a sinner because your eyes are evil
You are a saint because my eyes are pure




DUP link: http://deepundergroundpoetry.com/poems/214845-because-i-because-you/


A matter of perspective, eh?
Thanks for the visually compelling ink.
Very good one.

BUTTERFLY

It was always a dare that wasn't there,
That me and my girlfriends had never said
And didn't dread each time another shade
From needles pricking, bleeding colors in,

Especially during summer vacation.
Freedom, between semesters in high school.
Bad ass valley girls, suntanned and looking.
Just looking, while working on our "badges".

Some were of hearts, others roses & thorns,
Teddy bears & unicorns drawn on mons
Neatly trimmed for the tattooist's vantage;
We'd watch from the side to see if he'd squirm.

And while each of the posse was healing,
We'd strut in formation down the bike path
Winding through crowded Venice Beach,
Our flip-flops smacking concrete ev'ry step.

For me, the youngest, virgin in ev'ry way
A token mascot you might say, and proud:
My hymen shut tight a little longer,
And not a drop of black ink on my skin.

Then one summer evening on the boardwalk
My homies all tittered with glee as they
Quickly escorted me into a shop,
Ev'ry wall sporting what you could choose from.

I checked solemnly for my signature ink,
A gold fish, an eagle, a shooting star?
The gang stood by without making a sound.
This was a moment of which they'd be proud.

The artist walked up and asked what I'd picked,
I pointed discreetly and whispered to him,
He nodded a thoughtful reply, and said
"Go into that room, you others stay here,"

He followed me while the girls stood & gawked.
He eased the door to, nodding for me to sit,
I watched while he looked through a cabinet
And pulled out a dye-stained stencil from it.

For what seemed like hours the ink gun buzzed
And each time my face would pout as I'd wince,
And after each time he'd mop up the blood,
And each time I'd wonder what had i done.

Till finally he leaned back, the job was complete.
He told me when I could take the pad off,
Then opened the door and let the colt free,
Watching me bolt and return to the fold.

That weekend when it was time to unveil,
I stepped out wearing a sky blue tube top
And there in flight above one of my breasts:
A tattoo of a rainbow butterfly!

To show that I'm me, to fly and be free.
To express my love of life as it is,
A spectrum of colors of all mankind
I hope that will one day learn to embrace!


(I knew I wasn't meant to be a bad ass
And neither were you!)



Copyright ©2016 Jade Pandora. All Rights Reserved

Rose Red

I Run a boiling hot tub
I sink into the heat and smile
I will bleeed red ease in a very short while...

I don't cut like an amateur
I slice down the blue inked leg
Of Rose, the Flamingo tattooed on my inner wrist
And then slit her throat..
My crucifix fix...

Lie back
And just float.....
In fluttered eye limbo..
The letting leaks the pain
The pain makes me feel something other than....
Than a ghosts touch memory
And empty inside

The slice and layered scars hide nicely there...
In Roses line of inked leg

She has a blue beehive hair
Doo do doo dooo...
You would never know
The pain she has been through....

She smiles with curly cat lashes ...
And hides my failures
Hides my old slashes...
And part of me knows...
I could off me...
But I will save Rose....

I lay and as my head lulls to side..
Red runs blissful swirls into tub
Beautiful..i sigh...

And then I see Rose
She screams..
Screams bloody murder at me!
And startles me from deaths dream...
Her neck severed below her beak..
And the peace of weak loses its serenity..
She has never done anything to me....

I must save Rose!
She has done nothing...
But stand in pink one leg pearched proud on my arm...
Giving off a pink cadilac
Retro charm...

So i stagger out on wobbly knees
As i walk it feels as if my steps sink
Into a floor of mattresses...
Head swoons hazed
I am dazed

The drips of warm red
From fingertips
Like cherry koolaid of Jim Jones flavor....
It Drips to floor in a spotted sanguine trail....
Will be a connect the dots of shame
In the light of day...
Yes tomorrow will be hell and humiliation...
But right now...

I must avert my eyes from my red prize..
And stitch Rose up again..
She does not deserve to die...


(Pearl Rose...my pee wee hermanesqe pink flamingo tat on inner wrist...designed to hide my scars, and remind me of my happiness)

Awe, dove flew over the rainbow....Kansas no more?  Hope not. Loved Jade....

He tattooed his initials on my finger

I remember the night
I was almost as high as a kite
and my ex-con boyfriend held the trigger
when he decided to tattoo my ring finger

He learned how to wrap thread
closely around the point of a sewing needle; I don't remember what was said
as he tattooed, one at a time onto my body, his initials
with hearts as periods, how superficial

I asked how he got needles in jail, I think
and where in the world he got India ink
He said such things in the joint were bought and sold openly about
along with the bags of dope that he lived off now that he was out

As blue as a dark sky before a storm
these letters, in forty years, have started to get worn
They are still legible with minimal fadeing
and they are the reason I didn't get a ring at my wedding

He was cute, with long curly black hair
and his legs were bowlegged, like the legs of a bent chair
He had been paroled the night we met
I made sure it was a night he would never forget

We were both half Italian
I was the fille to his stallion
When we boogied, we fit like a glove
We spent most of a year in bed, in love

Since that time, I've found a bunch of wide silver rings
to cover this hideous thing
After we split up; he seemed not to care
when he was reminded of dragging me out of parties by my long hair

He had a penchant for being ugly, what can I say
when things didn't go his way
or when I drank more than he did
which was most of the time, except for that which he didn't know I hid

I ran out on him more than a few times
that is not suggested behavior if one is living with an ex-con who spent time in jail paying for his crimes
Nor is going with them on b & e's, but I was willing
as long as it was my wine glass that he was filling

The day of the hearing
I was sequestered, fearing
that I would be dealt with outside his sentence
After all, it was me who spilled the beans, me who received no penance

That was so long ago, I almost forgot all of the fun
But every time I remove my ring, to tan my finger in the sun
I am reminded of sitting at the table that day in nineteen seventy eight
while he tattooed his initials on my finger, sealing my fate

congratulations Al it was a well deserved win