The Tattooed Poets Project: Michael Henry Lee

Today's tattoo was submitted by Michael Henry Lee:

Photo courtesy of Michael Henry Lee

There's a lot going on here, so let's let Michael explain:

"The work pictured began about 36 years ago in Kansas City, Mo. I only remember the artist's name as John. The piece started with the stylized exotic bird's head that John took credit for as his own. A few years later I found the same piece on the back of a Mountain album cover. Imagine. Fast forward a couple of decades to a fantastic shop [Soul Expressions Tattoo Studio] in Temecula Ca. and an artist named Dan Adair. The sun and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah were added there. The sun was David's design and the Lion comes from the Ethiopian flag borrowed from a Bob Marley album. The conceptual idea was mine and is meant to be symbolic of the Christian trinity: Father (as the sun), the Son (as the Conquering Lion) and our old buddy the bird (as the holy spirit). The seven is symbolic of the biblical number of completion and is repeated three times. The piece was just retouched and colored last year in Saint Augustine, Florida, by Tattoo Mike from Tattoo Garden."

Michael also offered up several short poems, including some haiku:

"tattoo impressions"

    van goes home

stepping out in a starry night    

(first appeared in graffiti kolkata Aug 2010)

~

tattoo garden

 the blush returns

 to mother's rose

~

What Love’s Got to do with It

It was rumored of late

that Love;

is suffering from a stolen identity

Eros has hacked into Agape

like the evil twin exchanged at birth;

     Ying for Yang

           The Pauper for the Prince

                    Cain for Abel

The imposter has taken control

using seduction and guile

to manipulate the hearts and minds

of whoever might be deceived

Love’s calling all investors

Setting the record straight

Distancing itself from a nefarious sibling

Love does not

          sell cars, clothes, food, or personal hygiene products

Love knows

          the grass isn’t greener in the next field,

          and besides brown is highly underrated anyway

Love always makes deposits

          but not withdrawals

Love is patient as water

          smoothing stone          

Love knows the worst

          but hopes for the best

Love bites its tongue and swallows its pride

Love looks at the heart

          not: boobs, biceps, or bank accounts

Love is the first one into a burning building

          an the last one off a sinking ship

Love builds

         Marriages

             Families

                  and  Nations 

                                                            

Love is an invisible necessity

         like  time, gravity, and oxygen

Love is beyond time and space

Eternal

Unconditional

                          a

                         gift

                    a promise

            one poured out for all 

                     that they

                       might

                        know

                         that

                         God

                           is

                           L

                           O

                           V

                           E

"What Love's Got to do with It" first appeared in Heart Pour The Love Book from Poet Plant Press, 2011

~

Michael Henry Lee is a husband, father and grandfather. He and his wife of 30 years reside in St. Augustine, Florida; the nation’s oldest city, along with two cats, and numerous bonsai trees.

Michael is a member of Ancient City Poets and the Haiku Society of America. The last Sunday of every month generally finds him at the Heart Pour Matinee; an open mic poetry reading that features seasoned artists as well as new talents. 

Mr. Lee serves as contributing co-editor for Poet Plant Press, and is a frequent contributor to Haiku News, and Haiku Ramblings. His work has appeared in Berry Blue Haiku, and Graffiti Kolkata He was voted among the favorites in the 2009 Alibi Weekly annual haiku contest, and was awarded third place prize in the Yukei Teikei Annual Tokutomi Haiku Contest for 2010.

Mr. Lee is quoted as saying “my objective is to express the good news and mystery of life in every breath, through the simplicity of haiku”.

Thanks to Michael Henry Lee for sharing his tattoo and his work with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poems are 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.

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Chip and Tom and Frank

Sometimes, the subject of a tattoo is unclear to the un-illuminated eye. Curiosity compels one to ask: what is that?

And the answer makes sense. And one marvels at the mind behind the man (or woman) who says,"Yeah, let's put that on me forever."

Such was the case during rush hour on the N train. An guy named Chip stood nearby and his right forearm intrigued me. I couldn't make out what his tattoos were. Can you?


When I asked, he explained. The top piece is a photograph from a Tom Waits album:

Despite ascertaining this is a Tom Waits photograph, I can't pinpoint where it came from. If anyone knows for certain, please let me know. The tattoo was done by C-Jay at Rising Dragon Tattoos in Manhattan. Work from Rising Dragon has appeared previously here.

Below the Waits tattoo is a Frank Zappa piece:


This is based on artwork that appeared on the back cover of Zappa's autobiography The Real Frank Zappa Book:


This piece was tattooed by an artist he only identified as Chris at Marco's Tattoo in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Obviously, Chip is a huge fan of both Frank Zappa and Tom Waits. That's all there is to it.

Thanks to Chip for sharing his cool and unusual tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

You have read this article Album Covers / Book Covers / Frank Zappa / Marco's Tattoo / Rising Dragon Tattoos / Tom Waits with the title Album Covers. You can bookmark this page URL http://blogarttattoo.blogspot.com/2009/07/chip-and-tom-and-frank.html. Thanks!

Jonathan Gives Us a Sun on a Sunday

I met Jonathan in Brooklyn Heights and he shared this, one of his four tattoos:


This tattoo, on his inner right forearm is based on artwork he found on the CD of Ofra Haza, an Israeli musician with Yemenite roots.


Jonathan believes it to be a middle-Eastern symbol that is a "stylized sun." It is ambiguous enough to cause many to take pause and ask him what it is. Some have even questioned if the outer circle is comprised of coffee beans. He appreciates the solar representation illuminating his arm.

The tattoo was inked by Steve at Artfreek Tattoo in Providence, Rhode Island.

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

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Lauren's Thigh Tattoo Salutes Mastodon

If you're reading this post and the Tattoosday banner features some wonderfully-inked revolvers, those "hand guns" belong to Amanda and the original post is here.

Just recently, I was thinking that I hadn't seen Amanda in a while and was wondering if she still lived in my neighborhood. Later that day, a much-tattooed woman named Lauren walked into the laundromat where I was packing up the weekly family wash.

I had never met Lauren before, but she knew about Tattoosday because she was friends with the aforementioned Amanda. She told me that Amanda had moved out of our neighborhood (thus explaining her scarcity) and yes, she was happy to share a piece for the blog.

Lauren has a vast array of ink, thirteen tattoos by her count, and she offered up this phenomenal thigh piece:




First of all, we don't show too many thighs here on Tattoosday, partly because they're only visible when it's warm enough for shorts. But more importantly, people with thigh tattoos tend to be few and far between, to begin with.

So what's with this image?

Lauren explained it is the album art for the metal band, Mastodon, off their debut album, Remission:


In fact, Lauren saw them play that same night at Irving Plaza with the bands Kylesa and Intronaut. Check out the awesome blog Brooklyn Vegan here to see a write-up and photos of the show.

This amazing tattoo was inked by Andrea Elston at East Side Ink. Ms. Elston has since departed New York and now tattoos out of Classic Tattoo in San Marcos, Texas. Work from East Side Ink has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Lauren for sharing her cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! I'm looking forward to (hopefully) showing more of her work here on the site in the future!

As a little extra bonus for Mastodon fans, or for people who want to hear what they sound like, here's the band performing their Grammy-nominated song "Colony of Birchmen" with Josh Homme:

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Mike's Lion-Skeleton Tattoo

I met Mike outside of Penn Station after work last Friday. He has five to eight tattoos in all, and he had this pretty cool piece to offer:


This piece is all original artwork by the artist, Doug White, formerly at the Ink Spot Tattoo Studios in Linden, New Jersey, back in 1995-6. Mike doesn't know where Doug ended up, but he believes he's now tattooing out in Texas.

He also mentioned there's a figure at the top of the piece which is loosely based on Eddie, the Iron Maiden "mascot":


This segment of the tattoo seems inspired by Iron Maiden's album cover Seventh Son of a Seventh Son:


The lion is also very nicely done:


Thanks again to Mike for sharing his tattoo with us here at Tattoosday!

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Sal Shares His Illusion-ary Tattoo

On Tuesday I was in Brooklyn Heights, walking toward Cadman Plaza on Clark Street. As I passed a local video store, Mr. Video III, I spotted some ink on one of the employees and decided to head in and introduce myself.

Sal has seven tattoos, but he chose to share the one above, from his left bicep.

This is, of course, recognizable to anyone who is a rock fan, as the artwork gracing the cover of the 1991 Guns N' Roses album Use Your Illusion I. A G n' R tattoo appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Sal had this inked because the album was released at a point in his life, when he was a senior in high school, when most people are most impressionable and affected by massive displays of musical force. The album, and by extension, the tattoo, was something he could cling to, a great avenue by which he could "express his rage".

With G n' R classics like "Right Next Door to Hell," "Don't Cry," "Back Off Bitch," and the Wings cover "Live and Let Die," the album is a tour de force of hard rock angst.

Sal also acknowledges that he, like many others who were fans of the band, developed a greater appreciation of classical art, as the image form the record (and its companion, Use Your Illusion II) are based on a detail in the Italian Renaissance painter Raphael's , The School of Athens:


Or, the detail used:


Sal says that this piece was inked around 1994 by an artist named Jason, who worked with the studio of the late great Huggy-Bear Ferris in Park Slope. Work from Huggy-Bear has appeared here previously on Tattoosday.

Thanks to Sal for sharing his tattoo here on Tattoosday. As I will be passing by Mr. Video III on a more regular basis in the future, I hope that Sal would share more of his tattoos with us in the future!

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Appe-tattoo for Destruction

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Spotted this very well-done piece honoring what many consider one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time, Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction.


Edward didn't mind stopping in front of Madison Square Garden and sharing his tattoo that was inked three years ago at Omega Tattoos in Queens.

This is Edward's only tattoo. Thanks to him for sharing it with the rest of us here at Tattoosday!

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Matt's Aubrey Beardsley Tattoo (Salome for the 21st Century)

I spotted this tattoo on the inner forearm of Matt, on April 26, 2008.

I was just about to leave St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, a church that is a landmark edifice, both architecturally and culturally, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There had been a poetry reading earlier in the day, a tribute reading to Barbara Guest, who died in 2006. I was packing up my bag to leave the wine and cheese reception when I spotted the ink out of the corner of my eye.

"It's based on an Aubrey Beardsley woodcut," Matt explained, "it's Salome".

Oh, the Dance of the Seven Veils. Matt nodded, but went on to explain that the tattoo was modified a little.

For example, in the original woodcut, Salome is holding the severed head of John the Baptist. I believe this is the Beardsley woodcut to which he was referring:

Matt's friend Kazumi Kikuchi helped revise the sketch to alter the head to a broken heart. He also added the Japanese characters at the top of the piece.

Matt gave credit to the band Daddy for the broken heart image which replaced the severed head. He said that the image was on an album cover of theirs. I was unable to find any art from the album but did find this promo shot, which has the heart image in the lower corner:


This piece was inked at Atomic Ink in Hudson, New York. Matt, who has "4 or 5" tattoos, did not recall the name of the artist.

I thanked Matt for talking with me, but decided to ask one more question. "What's with the heart at the bottom of the piece?"


"Oh," he smiled, "My wife, Laura, did that, with a needle and some India ink". Laura, sitting nearby, piped in, "I have a matching one here," pointing to her right thigh, "but you can't see it." Her jeans prevented an easy peek.

Thanks to Matt for sharing his woodcut tattoo with us!

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