The Tattooed Poets Project: Jim Elledge

Our next tattooed poet is Jim Elledge, who sent us this snapshot:

Jim explains how he came to get this tattoo:

"Several years ago, my partner and I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico on vacation and fell in love with it. The following summer, we bought an apartment in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan, and if all goes well, we’ll be moving there to live permanently in three years. One day at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, I found a petroglyph of the Taíno sun deity. (The Taínos  were the indigenous people of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands who were thriving before Columbus’ arrival.) As soon as I saw the petroglyph, I knew I wanted it as a tattoo, and before leaving the island, I went to Harisumi Tattoo Parlor & Body Piercing on Avenida Ashford and had it done. Although I was a little concerned about being accused of appropriating Puerto Rican/Taíno culture, which, I have to admit, I did, I’m constantly stopped on the street or the beach by Puerto Ricans who tell me how wonderful the tattoo is."

Jim sent us the following poem:

Now You See Mister.

Now You Don’t.

Tick-tock: Night limps by, and the martini

Mister stirred twelve full seconds reflects him—

tight, not drowned. Hours before, the key lime

pie made him pucker, the cheap Chianti

made him woozy, the waiter made him hard,

getting wood made him feel visible—but

to himself, not to God, who’s so blissed out

a sparrow distracts Him. (Mister knocked loud!)

And Satan’s so fixated on cheap tricks,

he’s absent, too. Faithful and heretic,

poor Mister punches the Reaper’s time clock,

gnaws bones and laps booze as the bright oceans 

slap continents, and paces while tick-tocks

multiply. Then he passes out undone.

~ ~ ~

Jim Elledge’s H, a collection of prose poems, was issued by Lethe Press in 2012, and his A History of My Tattoo: A Poem won the Lambda Literary Award in 2006. His poems have appeared in many journals, including Barrow Street, Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Hotel Amerika, Indiana Review, North American Review, Paris Review. His Henry Darger, Throw-Away Boy: The Tragic Life of an Outsider Artist is forthcoming in July 2013 from Overlook Press.

Thanks to Jim for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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Jorge's Attabeira Tattoo Pays Tribute to His Puerto Rican Heritage

Last May, I spent a few minutes on the N train talking to a woman named Patricia who had a cool tattoo on the back of her neck (see the post here). She disembarked before I was able to get all the facts on the piece, but I still posted the blurry photo.

No, I didn't run into her again. But I did meet Jorge, who had a similar piece on his inner left forearm based on the fertility goddess Atabey, or Attabeira, the goddess of fertility in the Taíno culture of Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean:



The piece runs the length of his inner arm, and took 2 sittings and 6 hours to complete.

He had this tattooed by Byron Velasquez, then at Rising Dragon Tattoos in 2001. Byron now tattoos out of Abstract Black NYC. Jorge chose this image as an icon to represent his Puerto Rican heritage. This is one of his three tattoos.

Check out other work from Rising Dragon previously appearing on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Jorge for sharing his tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Fertility Goddess on the N Train

I met Patricia on the N train to Brooklyn. Generally, I am less inclined to ask people on the train about their ink, but Patricia's tattoo was so interesting, I couldn't resist.

She seemed very interested in Tattoosday as she explained that she got this piece in Puerto Rico. Based on the brief snippets of our conversation (she rushed off the train at the next stop), this is a likeness of a fertility goddess in Taíno culture. Note the similarity to this petroglyph:

According to this website, this petroglyph represents "the chief female diety Atttabeira, the fertility goddess. Her image is carved on a large stone in the main ball court of Caguana, Puerto Rico."

Thanks to Patricia for sharing her ink on the train!

Editor's note: Patricia, feel free to e-mail me a clearer picture of your tattoo, when you can. Thanks again!