The Tattooed Poets Project: Lorraine Conlin

Today's tattooed poet is Lorraine Conlin, one of several Long Island wordsmiths featured this month on the Tattooed Poets Project.<br /><br />Lorraine offers up this beautiful tattoo on the upper right side of her back:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztke_ktxUiTR35uxmqRP6UR_PGXhJ4HpfVVc4FGki1dKuZiPMIKVw6gqfMhsUOfY3P_19hz0VAOkwnf0o5HZSnpX2IihdWzSU5-Q-zJhoNxbRWRda_47TJZxG59_EVj2akQZFsuUJg-o/s1600/La+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztke_ktxUiTR35uxmqRP6UR_PGXhJ4HpfVVc4FGki1dKuZiPMIKVw6gqfMhsUOfY3P_19hz0VAOkwnf0o5HZSnpX2IihdWzSU5-Q-zJhoNxbRWRda_47TJZxG59_EVj2akQZFsuUJg-o/s640/La+.jpg" width="486" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Lorraine Conlin</td></tr></tbody></table>Lorraine gives us the background of this lovely La:<br /><blockquote>"My first and only tattoo (so far), was self-designed with a bit of enhancement by <i>Syxx,</i> of <a href="http://wyldchyldstudios.com/"><b>Wyld Chyld</b> <b>Tattoo</b></a> in Merrick, NY, where I co-host poetry events in their adjoining café.  <i>La</i> is the Lilliputianized form of my original nickname, <i>Lala.</i>  Before I said Mama or Dada, as most babies do, I uttered <i>Lala</i> and from that day forward, my family referred to me as their “little Lala”.  </blockquote><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlTDoeP_rIBvSNfR_nSz3gqhhgqC8-SlRCBzzHJ6Y0TvDfC09Ff8vYI6g02NK5lkvoi1K4XqoVL7lVAni9FBFFhYfR3IwxzFHt6TU3Sx7J5pdnJl8TUZRxkksKMwoAx_UXrkJSsjQW4w/s1600/La+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlTDoeP_rIBvSNfR_nSz3gqhhgqC8-SlRCBzzHJ6Y0TvDfC09Ff8vYI6g02NK5lkvoi1K4XqoVL7lVAni9FBFFhYfR3IwxzFHt6TU3Sx7J5pdnJl8TUZRxkksKMwoAx_UXrkJSsjQW4w/s400/La+detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Lorraine Conlin</td></tr></tbody></table>The name stayed with me and friends and business associates starting calling me “<i>La</i>”.  While hosting the open mic at Wyld Chyld Tattoo & Café, I met <a href="http://www.myspace.com/obrien6"><i>Syxx</i></a>, (Raymond Obrien) who is with the Metal Group, “<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Saints-of-Pain/137974834137?sk=wall">The Saints of Pain</a>”.  He signed up to read one night and read something he had written.  We started talking and I asked if I had any ink.  I told him I was afraid of infection and I was allergic to lots of foods and meds. He asked me which ones and when I said sulfur, he said I could get any colors except yellow or any that had yellow in their composition.  He was so reassuring, knowledgeable and gentle that I went home that night and started thinking about what to get and where I wanted it.  I sketched it out and brought him the sketch.  We made a date, he made the stencil and the rest is history." </div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">Lorraine was kind enough to share this poem with us:<span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Tahoma; line-height: 115%;">A Wannabe Fantasy</span></b></div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="NoSpacing">I told my shrink I wannabe a back warmer</div><div class="NoSpacing">sit on a bitch pad behind a biker guy</div><div class="NoSpacing">wrap my arms round his ape-hanger grip</div><div class="NoSpacing">straddle his bar-hopper bike on Friday nights</div><div class="NoSpacing">ride with a big bearded chromosexual guy </div><div class="NoSpacing">cruise the big road to nowhere…</div><div class="NoSpacing">I wanna goggle the horizon -- eat asphalt</div><div class="NoSpacing">let my puppies hang loose </div><div class="NoSpacing">wear black leather chaps</div><div class="NoSpacing">and a purple skid lid</div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">“I don’t think you do.” He said</div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">Yes, I do</div><div class="NoSpacing">I love bikers</div><div class="NoSpacing">especially the B.U.G.s</div><div class="NoSpacing">the bigger, uglier the guy</div><div class="NoSpacing">the harder they try</div><div class="NoSpacing">the better they make me feel</div><div class="NoSpacing">told him I rode hard and long with a few</div><div class="NoSpacing">before these confession sessions </div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">He said. “We have to stop now.” </div><div class="NoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="NoSpacing">I found a new therapist</div><div class="NoSpacing">she loves to listen </div><div class="NoSpacing">to my biker-chick fantasies</div><div class="NoSpacing">rides along with me</div><div class="NoSpacing">always asks</div><div class="NoSpacing">“How does that make you feel”…</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">~ ~ ~</div><div class="NoSpacing">Lorraine Conlin is a US Customs Broker at <a href="http://www.panynj.gov/airports/jfk.html">JFK Airport</a>. She is on the BOD of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Long-Island-Poetry-Collective/253009005395?sk=info">The Long Island Poetry Collective</a>, hosts “Tuesdays With Poetry” for <a href="http://poetsinnassau.blogspot.com/">Poets in Nassau</a>, and co-hosts for <a href="http://www.performancepoets.org/">PerformancePoets Association</a> at <a href="http://www.yourli.com/Wyld-Chyld-Tattoo---Cafe/7312044">Wyld Chyld Tattoo & Café</a> in Merrick, LINY. Her work has been published in PPA Literary Review(s), <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewevent.php/prmEventID/5636">LongIsland Sounds Anthology(s)</a>.  Lorraine initiated and hosts <a href="http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152641658121666">Super Poem Sunday</a>, where folks gather to celebrate the sport of poetry on Super Bowl Sunday.  She is also the founder of the Long Island Poets for Darfur.  Lorraine is currently working on her first book of poems. </div><br />Thanks to Lorraine for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">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> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://tattoosday.blogspot.com</a> 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></div>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Lorraine Conlin

Today's tattooed poet is Lorraine Conlin, one of several Long Island wordsmiths featured this month on the Tattooed Poets Project. Lorra...

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