Timothy Shares a Luis Royo-Inspired Tattoo (and More!)

When I met Timothy in Penn Station last month, I approached him because I noticed a tattoo on the back of his calf. But when I introduced myself, and explained what Tattoosday was all about, he rolled up his right sleeve to reveal a much better tattoo:

Timothy explained that the woman "is from a piece of artwork I love by Luis Royo, who worked for Heavy Metal." His tattoo artist, Tim McCormick at Wild Rose Tattoo in upstate New York, added the headdress to the original image "to make it more unique." Royo, Timothy, explained, has been his favorite artist since he was 13, and he got the tattoo at 29. The detail is incredible:

But what about the tattoo I first spotted on Timothy that prompted me to approach him in the first place?

"I've always been a big pirate fan since I was four....I got it in Puerto Rico. I drank a half a bottle of rum and my last day there decided to get a tattoo," Timothy explained. Considering the locale and the liquid that inspired the inking, the final product seemed more than appropriate:

Thanks to Timothy 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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Christina Continelli

Today's tattoo comes to us from poet Christina Continelli. This is part of the lower half of her arm sleeve:

Christina explains the origin of this piece:

"The tattoo is from the front cover of a vintage Heavy Metal comic book my ex-boyfriend used to have. The sleeve was adapted from the drawing by Avelino Avilia at Spirits in the Flesh Tattoo Studio in San Francisco. I had the work done in 1997. There was no deep meaning behind it. I simply found the original image aesthetically pleasing."

What follows is Christina's poem "Charity, " which, she says, "was supposed to be published in [another magazine] this year, but they fell off the face of the earth." Their loss is our gain, I say, and they haven't responded to her queries about the poem, so this would mark it's first publication, I believe.

Charity

This person who requires

very little of me

wrecks the neighborhood

in spirits and crushed feathers               

I wheedle the ajar door

just give a push

and enjoy the feel of it giving

Let loose on the night

with you clawing behind me

feral, whip-tailed, gentle man

a shriek of rubber on wet pavement

and questions

so many questions

I feel two things:

the smoky grit of the upholstery &

the constellation of insects in my veins

Lust is the arch of the moon

in the stomach of a middle-aged woman

perverse and sterile,

a sprinkling of glass and lacquer

from a childhood memory

of dark sex and rage

I keep hearing you talk to me

It sounds like a sugar cube

muddled in brandy

 ~ ~ ~

Christina Continelli is a poet, fiction writer, and essayist. She cut her poetry teeth in the San Diego spoken word scene. In 2004 she moved to Oakland, California to attend the MFA program at California College of the Arts. Her work has appeared in Goodfoot Magazine, Slice, How2,  and Monday Night Lit.

Thanks to Christina for sharing her poem and tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

~

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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.