The Tattooed Poets Project: Emily Harrison

Today we have another tattooed poet from "across the Pond".

Emily Harrison sent us this lovely tattoo from the United Kingdom:

Emily explains:

"It was the first appointment of the day on my 18th birthday at Sinking The Ink in Swindon and I finally got to get the tattoo. I ignored friends and family warning me not to commit to such a lifelong commitment at such a 'young and impressionable age' and, being quite the goody-two-shoes for most of my life, went for it. My inspiration is Ted Hughes' collection of work, Crow (sometimes I can bend the truth slightly and give a nod if anyone asks Edgar Allen Poe) and I now have a perching taxidermy crow to match it."

By way of poetry, Emily has offered up this item for our enjoyment:

Instantly Your Biggest Fan

I want to hear you describe my look
as blood in the sugar bowl
my attitude as the paddling pool
blown onto the M4 causing a pile up
you don’t
love me
you should
when we go to the seaside
I wont even moan
when I drop my ice cream
and when you offer me yours
I wont accept
I’ll make your tongue ache
until its like you’ve been
sucking on fudge
you’ll have dreams
where you save me
from wreckages
burning freak accidents
the one you love
and the one who loves you
are never ever the same person
now fall in love with me
as if I were a French girl
on a postcard

~ ~ ~

I generally don't comment on the poems, but I like this one very much and am thankful Emily sent it our way.

Emily Harrison won the Christopher Tower Poetry Prize in 2010 and is set to be published in the April edition of Popshot Magazine. Her poetry is scarlet, penetrating, funny and honest. Emily does beautiful, stark and memorable words. She has red hair, perpetual lipstick and high heels. She adds, "I find inspiration from the men in my life; some painfully thin, most aggressively passionate, all with strange hair cuts."

Thanks to Emily for her contribution to the Tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Meghann's Ink Inspired by Nikki McClure

This past November, I met Meghann in Penn Station and spotted this tattoo on her arm:

Meghann explained that this work is based on a paper-cut by an artist from Olympia, Washington named Nikki McClure.

There's no real deep meaning behind this. Meghann is just appreciates the art for art's sake: "I just liked the design a lot. I really like [McClure's] work."

The tattoo was done by Sam Gosson at Oddball Studios in Portland, Oregon.

Thanks to Meghann for sharing this cool work with us here on Tattoosday!

Kyle's Industrial Sunflowers

Riding uptown on the 3 train, I see a sleeve half way across the car that just looks amazing. I can't make out the specifics, but the color and detail tell me it's a fantastic piece.

The problem is, it's a crowded express train during rush hour, and unless this guy gets off when I get off, I won't get a chance to talk to him.

As luck would have it, he does xit the train at the same stop, and as I am trying to catch up with him as he heads upstairs, and across Broadway, I recognize his left sleeve. His name is Kyle, I interviewed him in 2008 (using a borrowed camera, no less) and his post appeared here.

This is new ink, however, and when I finally catch Kyle on the north side of 72nd, it takes a moment, but he remembers me, and is happy to share his new work, which bears a similar theme to the tattoo I spotted last time our paths crossed:

It is by the same artist, Myles Karr, who had done the tattoo from the original post when he was at Saved Tattoo. Myles is now at Three Kings, also in Brooklyn.

Like the prior encounter, from over three years ago (May 2008), the right sleeve is a dichotomy. The left sleeve is a city vs country tension. This piece is dominated by a burst of sunflowers, which travel down the arm and circle the elbow.

On the flip side is another cityscape, this time more silhouetted, and he explains that his near-pastoral umbringing was punctuated by the sunflowers he and his mother harvested. This, juxtaposed by the industrial city, is the center of the tension between the two aspects of the tattoo.

As an afterthought, I snapped a shot of the murder of crows lining the inside of his arm. "I just love crows," he told me.

He also offered up this shin piece, also by Myles Karr:

He explained it is an old-time traditional circus strongman, as old circus and sideshow imagery being another style of designs that he likes.

It was great seeing Kyle again and appreciating the amazing work he had added since our paths last crossed three years ago. Thanks to Kyle for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Johnny's Crows Are His Spiritual Guides

Back in May, I got off the subway in Bay Ridge and was walking behind a guy with ink I couldn't quite make out.

I thought I saw birds on his right arm, but wasn't sure. He was talking to someone so I didn't bother him. I figure, in my neighborhood, I'll run into him again.

About a week later, my wife Melanie is telling me about someone with amazing tattoos with crows on it. She was so impressed, she struck up a conversation with him and passed him my card. I tell her I'm certain I know who she's talking about.

Johnny e-mailed me a day or two later. After some back and forth, we agreed to meet the first Sunday in June. I told him when I would be at the laundromat that morning and we met up and I took pictures.

The problem is, the pictures didn't come out great. It was a bright sunny day and the shots are very light. I e-mailed him back and explained what happened. He said he could send me some better photos. And so it goes.

That was the last time we communicated and I've decided to run the pictures anyway. The sleeve, for that's what it is, isn't complete anyway, so I figure we can get some better shots when the piece is complete.





Johnny has had about four sessions on this piece, and expects about four more.


The birds depicted are crows, which represent his "animal spiritual guide". In his words, "I am not only paying respect to spirit my guide, but also my ancestors, family and friends."


Represented in the various sections of the piece are Mother Earth, Father Sky, and The Great Being.



This work has been done by Half-Stack at Addiction Ink Tattoo & Piercings in Manhattan..

Thanks to Johnny for sharing his amazing ink with us here on Tattoosday! Sorry it took so lone to see the light of the blogosphere!

Crow and Mouse

A few minutes after talking to Brian (here), I ran into Tony, a tattoo artist at Gotham City Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

Tony estimates he is 50% covered, so choosing a nice tattoo to offer up for Tattoosday was no easy task.

Until he showed me his inner left bicep:


This incredible work was done by Simone, a visiting artist from Como, Italy, who did a guest spot at Gotham.

Tony, who has been tattooing for six years, loves crows, and this piece certainly leaves little to be desired in terms of an amazing crow tattoo.

As a postscript, Tony also shared this little Mickey Mouse tattoo:


This was inked by Bill Blood (whose knuckle tattoos I wrote about here). Bill is another artist working at Gotham City Tattoo. It is evidence of a bet that Tony lost, the details of which, he felt would be inappropriate to share here.

Thanks to Tony for sharing a couple of his many tattoos here on Tattoosday!