The Word Made Flesh

When I was growing up, all of my imaginary friends were the illustrations from cherished books. This illustration, the main character of Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup With Rice was my most treasured imaginary friend. I had this image tattooed on my ribs so I would never forget the mystery and the beauty of childhood.

Lighting isn’t so great in this picture, but oh well. That poem says most of what I want to say, at some of my most difficult moments. The title of it is one I’m proud to wear, and that I’d be proud to live.

Not tattoo-related, but still awesome: This new video from The Living Kills.

It was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a commonplace thing. The example he gave — and the liar said it really happened — was that once while drinking orange juice, he’d realized he would be dead someday. He wondered if we, his students, had had similar “realizations.”
Is he kidding? I thought.
Once I cashed a paycheck and realized it wasn’t enough.
Once I had food poisoning and realized I was trapped inside my own body.

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—	Amy Hempel, Reasons to Live (via on-silver-screens)

Dead Poet’s Society changed my life.

My gorgeous little under-armpit Anthony Trollope. Favorite author, bearded hero, and little friend. By Sean Gillespie at Flagship Tattoo in Palm Desert, CA.

WHAT IS INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT HAPPENS MOSTLY IN SECRET, IN PLACES WHERE THERE IS NO POWER … THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE POWER CONTINUE TO GLIDE ALONG THE FAMILIAR RUT THEY HAVE MADE FOR THEMSELVES.

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—	The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje (via writerinboston)

“To thine own self be true” Hamlet, Act One, Scene Three, Line 78

Because i am totally, head over heels with William Shakespeare and this quote has a very personal meaning to me.

First of many literary tattoos to come :)

This is my tattoo on the outside of my right calf. It says Know Thyself. It is the English translation of the phrase over the entrance to Delphi in Greece and has been used in literature since ancient times.

When I put down my pen I meant to put away my memories with it. They had had days, weeks, months to settle, but in the end they didn’t.

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—	L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between (via grecianurn)

This is my second tattoo, it was a few hours after I had gotten it. I’ve had the tattoo for over a year now and I still remind myself all the time how important the quote is. I had heard it while I was going through a rough time in my life, and it made all the difference, I immediately knew that one day it would be on my body.

And therein lies the whole of man’s plight. Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition.

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—	Milan Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)

housingworksbookstore:

Attention tattoolit!

docsorrow:

hey did you guys know that i got a Dear Sugar tattoo on friday? from #41, Like An Iron Bell:

“Do you realize that your refusal to utter the word love to your lover has created a force field all its own? Withholding distorts reality. It makes the people who do the withholding ugly and small-hearted. It makes the people from whom things are withheld crazy and desperate and incapable of knowing what they actually feel.

So release yourself from that. Don’t be strategic or coy. Strategic and coy are for jackasses. Be brave. Be authentic. Practice saying the word love to the people you love so when it matters the most to say it, you will.

We’re all going to die, Johnny. Hit the iron bell like it’s dinnertime.”

A line from “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel. Put the song on repeat for a week straight, then immediately got this ink. Absolute pure beauty put into music.

TO SEE MORE SONG LYRIC TATTOOS LIKE THIS ONE, CHECK OUT TATTOOLIT’S NEW TUMBLR BLOG: THE WORDS TO EVERY SONG, TATTOOS INSPIRED BY MUSIC AND SONG LYRICS.

NEW BLOG! Want tattoos inspired by music and song lyrics? Check out our new blog, THE WORDS TO EVERY SONG »