My very first tattoo. Ichthys symbol and the famous line from Peter Pan. Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust.
“This is not my life. These are not my cobwebs. This is not the darkness I was designed for.”-Colum McCann
My poetry mentor told me today that I needed to find my spot of memory, that place I go to, where my poetry is rooted, and the metaphorical or physical place I call home, whether or not it’s attainable. Second, he told me to find out what I fear, what really frightens me, and to steep in it. The only way you can really express what you feel, is to know what you’re afraid to feel and explore it. When I went to get my Friday the 13th tattoo, this is what I got.
waldeinsamkeit is an untranslatable German word, which means, as close as we can match, “the feeling of being alone in the woods.” I grew up in the forests and swamps of central Florida, and I’m haunted by their ghosts. What frightens me, what really scares me is not the dark in the woods, not the unknown beyond the fog, but the unveiling of the unknown. I never want to lose the weight you feel when you’re alone in the forest. I don’t want to know what lives beneath the swamp waters, never want it to lose that magic.
Peter Gonzalez was generous enough to substitute this for my Friday the 13th, $13 tattoo deal. He’s a brilliant artist working out of Chrome Lotus in downtown Orlando, FL.
His portfolio
My tumblr
“Do not got gentle into that good night” - Dylan Thomas
I got this to remind me, live life to the fullest and don’t go without fighting :)
Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.
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| — | Anaïs Nin (via standinglikeaguiltyschoolboy) |
I do things like get in a taxi and say, “The library, and step on it.
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| — | David Foster Wallace (via bersabea) |
After 12 months dealing with depression and bipolar disorder I decided to get the emblematic line of David Foster Wallace speech at kenyon college on my wrist. The photo was taken right after I got it done.
A candle from Shel Silverstein’s poem “Invitation” and coming from the flame is the last line of my favorite poem by him…
“Listen to the MUSTN’Ts, child, listen to the DON’Ts. Listen to the SHOULDN’Ts the IMPOSSIBLEs, the WON’Ts. Listen to the NEVER HAVEs Then listen close to me— Anything can happen, child, ANYTHING can be.”
And of course I needed to get Max, King of the Wild Things doing mischievous things! These books and poems have super charged my love for books and reading since I was a small child, and it just made perfect sense to have them etched on my skin. Hopefully I’ll write an AWESOME children’s book one day :)
I have dreamt in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind. And this is one: I’m going to tell it - but take care not to smile at any part of it.
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| — | Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (via standinglikeaguiltyschoolboy) |
Max’s boat from Where the Wild Things Are. My favorite book when I was a kid, and it’s my nephew’s favorite book, now. He was born at 28 weeks, and suffered a series of strokes at a few hours old. It caused partial paralysis on his right side. Me and him are very close, mostly our love of reading and books. We spend hours pouring over books and citing them back and forth to each other.
“Sooner or later…” is my chosen motto for a lot of things. But, mostly “sooner or later” things will all work out. I have always believe that my nephew will overcome his physical and social delays. Right after I got this tattoo for him, he learned how to walk. He was four years old.
His favorite thing to do was to sit on the floor with the book open and compare the tattoo, which he called “Connor’s boat” to “Max’s boat” in the book.
