The Tattooed Poets Project: Joy Leftow

Today's tattooed poet is <a href="http://joyleftowsblog.blogspot.com/">Joy Leftow</a>, who offers up this tattoo on her upper right arm (and part of her shoulder):<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAdWOL8DHguPYjQHrMkkdghFKllqfRTrHXX7L12WNH4QNS-3bFO91zTA9adPZp9xDfngv-Av3wwao81WxbTyM3YC8MIqOWWaG1aPyukBYLtAAOvwUEhDbAsjQqsSk5TUaHbGsA3EDO6E/s1600/violet+writes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaAdWOL8DHguPYjQHrMkkdghFKllqfRTrHXX7L12WNH4QNS-3bFO91zTA9adPZp9xDfngv-Av3wwao81WxbTyM3YC8MIqOWWaG1aPyukBYLtAAOvwUEhDbAsjQqsSk5TUaHbGsA3EDO6E/s400/violet+writes.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br />Joy explains the story behind this tattoo:<br /><br /><blockquote><div>The tattoo is my alter ego - not only <a href="http://www.eminem.com/">Eminem</a> has one. I had a very tumultuous and crazy childhood, so that I ended up dropping out of high school is no surprise. What is a surprise is that I now have 2 masters degrees, 1 in social work from Columbia, where I also attended undergrad for free in a special program geared towards helping the educationally and financially disadvantaged....out of the 11 people I began the program with, only me and one other gal made it through to graduation. Thus the importance of books in the tattoo, which represent knowledge and learning. I was always an avid reader and this turned to be my saving grace. But Columbia is a bitch and very competitive and wasn't exactly easy for a high school dropout. My other masters is in creative writing and is from CCNY, because once you're a working person, nothing is free, and CCNY is affordable. I'm very sorry to see the days of opportunities for the disadvantaged pass by and now one must work hard to find any remaining ones.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.dreamlandcreations.net/">Myke Maldonado</a> from <a href="http://dreamlandcreations.com/" target="_blank">Dreamland Creations</a> [in Stroudsburg, PA] is my inker. Myke is famous for torturing people so that your ink will last forever. He also has some fame as a comic book illustrator and for his erotic art comics. I chose him because my son is totally inked by Myke. I know that Myke sits and takes his time to make the creation a by product of dialogue and collaboration. If he wouldn't have moved his ass around the country so much, he'd be a lot more famous. You can't find a better or more responsive inker. Love Myke!</blockquote><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joy offers us this poem:</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6058251288236499429" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6058251288236499429" name="OLE_LINK1"> </a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Ramblings Of A Dead Poet Revived</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m your dream that drama queen you wanna be because you’re too damn scared on your own</div></div><div class="MsoNormal">so you talk about me – </div><div class="MsoNormal">My life shot and framed at every angle, a show and tell story of gory glory </div><div class="MsoNormal">A fit of reality TV evening drama </div><div class="MsoNormal">Me, an item to be discussed while you pine away</div><div class="MsoNormal">dismay pitted against your boring display of ridicule and scorn</div><div class="MsoNormal">a fine young thing wasted by the sideline of fate </div><div class="MsoNormal">a doorstep away</div><div class="MsoNormal">from where I stand </div><div class="MsoNormal">another miserable life invites me in</div><div class="MsoNormal">inciting an indictment in flight with a slight itch on the right side</div><div class="MsoNormal">another spiteful blight, pitiful, truly a fight to recite in the red light district of my mind</div><div class="MsoNormal">be polite do a rewrite be an anchor of light at first sight, sit tight</div><div class="MsoNormal">stay upright, only a bit contrite that my</div><div class="MsoNormal">knight in shining armor is all in my head</div><div class="MsoNormal">I have a legal right so join me in breaking bread maybe</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tempt you to try a</div><div class="MsoNormal">glass of organic Oregon Chardonnay instead</div><div class="MsoNormal">my life can’t be that exciting that you spend your time wondering when I do what I do and how I do it why do you care about my theatre life on the big screen </div><div class="MsoNormal">my life’s a Sartre amphitheatre</div><div class="MsoNormal">play and I am the spectre at the center of the fuss</div><div class="MsoNormal">I reminisce I exist</div><div class="MsoNormal">the bliss a swiss-chocolate kiss amiss to a soul kiss</div><div class="MsoNormal">the calypso discussion</div><div class="MsoNormal">I disinvite you to an airtight conclusion</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt;">~  ~ ~</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">In addition, we have an additional vision of Joy performing one of her poems:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9nIQmkeCVKk" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br /><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joy Leftow is a double alumna from Columbia U with a second Master’s from CCNY in creative writing. Her blog </span><span style="font-size: small;">has over 27000 facebook followers and </span><span style="font-size: small;">can be relished at:<i> <a href="http://joyleftowsblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #003ea0;">http://joyleftowsblog.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com</span></a></i></span><span style="font-size: small;">.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">She’s been featured on <a href="http://www.rocklandworldradio.com/">Rockland Internet Radio</a>, <a href="http://www.indiefeedpp.libsyn.com/">Indie Feed</a>, <a href="http://www.jazzpoetrycafe.net/">Jazz Poetry Café</a> and Everything Goes. Leftow’s honesty and openness may astonish you or embarrass you, but she promises not to bore you.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Her book, <i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0917455509/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0917455509%22%3ESpot%20of%20Bleach%20&%20Other%20Poems%20and%20Prose%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=0917455509%22%20width=%221%22%20height=%221%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20style=%22border:none%20%21important;%20margin:0px%20%21important;%22%20/%3E">A Spot of Bleach</a>,</i></span><span style="font-size: small;"> is available at Amazon.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=bill03-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0917455509" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div><br />Thanks to Joy for sharing her tattoo and her words with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.<br /><br />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 </span><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> 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.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Joy Leftow

Today's tattooed poet is Joy Leftow , who offers up this tattoo on her upper right arm (and part of her shoulder): Joy explains the stor...

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Tammy's Earth Fairy

Tammy says that, within an hour of meeting her, Steve Gagliano of <a href="http://www.tormentedsoulstattoo.com/main.html">Tormented Souls</a> in Kings Park, New York, knew exactly what to do with the tattoo she wanted covered up. He began freehanding a design over the existing tattoo, and the end result made her very happy:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3AaJXRo3zPEmcBavSNhyHB08iR7ZWoEsQ7ssgNaQGfBvaMktauwjopHo_mQzQfp9KbgkuKlXfw701lc4j139Zc4322kIr27J1yfCRa5nAvsazKQ4wHvfzcCwUWJM0d_Jfq9Sx2AU0/s1600/Earth+Fairy+collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3AaJXRo3zPEmcBavSNhyHB08iR7ZWoEsQ7ssgNaQGfBvaMktauwjopHo_mQzQfp9KbgkuKlXfw701lc4j139Zc4322kIr27J1yfCRa5nAvsazKQ4wHvfzcCwUWJM0d_Jfq9Sx2AU0/s400/Earth+Fairy+collage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The artist utilized the tribal butterfly that already existed and expanded it into an earth fairy, with a dragon protector.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMAT9dIlCIckzEJBRWheSSlt3Fa_m_aQ0ScsJPLlRQyBh5BoswmWp4oea_WUr8NImndlHhN9HBwFeqXv6Vt_LYpMsvDtbViC5Z5dWgsbo_xug3t4AzSgGpENcIry1Dh47xs5r5miI/s1600/Earth+Fairy+C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMAT9dIlCIckzEJBRWheSSlt3Fa_m_aQ0ScsJPLlRQyBh5BoswmWp4oea_WUr8NImndlHhN9HBwFeqXv6Vt_LYpMsvDtbViC5Z5dWgsbo_xug3t4AzSgGpENcIry1Dh47xs5r5miI/s640/Earth+Fairy+C.jpg" width="402" /></a></div><br />Thanks to Tammy for sharing this, one of her seven tattoos, here on Tattoosday!<br /><br />Be sure to click on the <a href="http://www.tormentedsoulstattoo.com/main.html">Tormented Souls link</a> to explore their site. It's one of the more creative tattoo shop websites.

Tammy's Earth Fairy

Tammy says that, within an hour of meeting her, Steve Gagliano of Tormented Souls in Kings Park, New York, knew exactly what to do with the...

Read more »