Tatto For You

Our next tattooed poet is Allison Wilkins, who sent us a couple of her tattoos: Allison explained the origins of this octopus: "The octopus tattoo was drawn by my artist friend, Lib Hedgepath, and inked by tattoo artist Ethan ( @ethan_franklin_jrt ) at James River Tattoo  ( @jamesrivertattoo ) (Lynchburg, VA, 1337 Main Street). I got the tattoo in 2013, a transitional year for me: between the acceptance of and publication of my first book, Girl Who ; this was also the year I got divorced. The octopus became a kind of totem animal for me, a sea beast that was highly intelligent and adaptable (I’m a Pisces). Also, it represents the place, Greece, where I eventually found a second home. But at the time I got my tattoo, I just associated Greece with starting over and living authentically." Then there is this piece on her back: Allison notes this is a poem by Titos Patríkios  and it: "... was inked by James River Tattoo in 2012. For me, it marked falling in love with a place:...

We are a launching our eleventh annual Tattooed Poets Project with Cody Wilson, who shared these amazing tattoos: Cody explained: "I’m a big fan of Nietzsche’s thoughts on the role of art, especially in The Birth of Tragedy . Nietzsche argues that we need a balance of order and disorder, and that these things compliment one another. Apollo , on my right leg, represents this as a patron of art: he was a symbol of reason and pragmatism for the Greeks. Dionysus , on my left, was also a patron of the arts, the god of wine and theater, and often represented disorder or a detachment from reason. I think in writing poetry, there’s a liminal space that we have to balance when we commit ourselves to the poem while also detaching ourselves from it in order to let it do its own thing. So often in life have I been Dionysian and craved the Apollonian, and vice versa. Having each god face each other on each leg was a sort of tribute to this. These pieces are modeled after Greek pottery from ...