Do You Love Tattoos?

"Tattoos show my pain, my love, my struggle/

My tatts speak volumes when I attempt to be subtle."

-L.M.

This is a poem that barely missed the cut for the book. I like this poem, but there were one or two lines that I didn't care for. It didn't show enough depth compared to the other poems in Chapter 7, but I still like this poem. I have 11 tattoos. I remember at age 12 I knew my first tattoo. I got it as soon as I left basic training. For some of us with tattoos, it becomes an addiction. The beauty of a tattoo. How you go through that pain for hours sometimes to end up with a semi-permanent etching of either an impulse or a well-thought out mural on your body. That's how I got another. And another. I had to be symmetrical, so if one arm had a tattoo, the other had to have one. If one side had a picture, the other side had to complement it. It's been 4 years since my last tattoo, and I'm itching for another. Tattoos are beautiful. Their beauty is multiplied when there is thoughts and meanings behind them.

Tattoos

I met a lady who was drawn to the pleasure of getting tattoos

The beautiful pain of creating body art for the entire world to view

It's always something about a lady with beautiful designs

Nothing too gaudy, I love tattoos that are refined

Tinkerbell had her back but her already fly to me

But she had more to show that wasn't for other guys to see

A subtle tattoo gives me a reason to stare at her cleavage

There's more between the lines and I'm the only one that can read it

It's written all over her face and drawn on her figure

Her frame is so small but I can see the bigger picture

Her convo says she's a sexual being and her body confirms she's got it

Tattoos in obscure places sing a song so melodic

She has a tiger tatted right next to her inner thigh

Even though the land is barren, her forest is never dry

She should have tattoo tears the way she's killing me softly

Never a refugee because the trail of stars made sure she never lost me

Bar code on her wrist but this lady is priceless

She keeps me calm like her butterfly tattoos when there's a crisis

She makes me feel lucky like her koi fish symbolize

She soothes my soul with they way the musical notes tatted seem to harmonize

She has prayer hands but by the end of the night I thank her

Because she ends up with nothing on but the beads tattooed around her ankle