The Tattooed Poets Project: Puma Perl

<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">It is with great pleasure that we present another tattooed poet, <a href="http://pumaperl.blogspot.com/">Puma Perl</a>. She offered up this beautiful tattoo:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><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/AVvXsEjFHjCE3z99tX-EM274liI_WtD-xwu9sTPf7IdwOwZeSgV8hUza0wHHi_2WCDFMknkVi1XKWM4R3HYFoU2qhXsIwumYfv882Jr38RmMPpsXKQhmBCFyeeCfjIBJIg0w-FhIhiyLqyiIIG4/s1600/mermaidstas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFHjCE3z99tX-EM274liI_WtD-xwu9sTPf7IdwOwZeSgV8hUza0wHHi_2WCDFMknkVi1XKWM4R3HYFoU2qhXsIwumYfv882Jr38RmMPpsXKQhmBCFyeeCfjIBJIg0w-FhIhiyLqyiIIG4/s400/mermaidstas.jpg" width="375" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tattoo by Emma Griffiths, Photo by Stas Nuke</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">We'll let Puma talk about this great piece: </span></span></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">"Everything of importance in my life has involved <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island">Coney Island</a>. As the developers moved in and the city became more and more a playground for wealthy transplants, I knew I wanted to pay homage with a tattoo. I love the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island_Mermaid_Parade">Mermaid Parade</a> and the <a href="http://www.wonderwheel.com/">Wonder Wheel</a>, so envisioned a mermaid with the Wonder Wheel in the background. A friend of mine happened to give me a magnet that she had bought at <a href="http://www.lolastar.com/">Lola Starr</a> on the boardwalk (<a href="http://www.lolastar.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">http://www.lolastar.com/</span></a>) and I used that as the basic shape, changing the tattoo on the mermaid’s arm to a tiny replica of one of mine. I’d wanted to add my eyeglasses, but it was too tiny a detail. I contacted the amazing <a href="http://www.porcupinetattoo.com/emma.html">Emma Griffiths</a>, <a href="http://www.porcupinetattoo.com/about.html%20">Porcupine Tattoo</a>, 31 Norman Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, <a href="http://www.porcupinetattoo.com/about.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;"></span></a>and made an appointment for a consultation. I brought the magnet and a photo of the Wonder Wheel and we collaborated. Emma drew our vision of the Wonder Wheel in the background and modeled her mermaid on the magnet."</div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Puma, as is the custom, also shared a poem. She commented that her poem is "</span></span>about the Mermaid Parade, which also mentions <a href="http://www.chachasofconeyisland.com/">Cha Cha’s</a>, which was slated to be torn down but was recently granted one last season, along with 8 other unofficial Boardwalk landmarks." She also noted that "this poem was previously published in the<a href="http://www.examiner.com/coney-island-in-new-york/nikki-jo-grossman"> Coney Island Examiner</a>, along with several other poems about Coney Island." You can read all of them <a href="http://www.examiner.com/coney-island-in-new-york/poetry-of-puma-perl%20">here</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Best Day of the Year</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We hung out on the roof at Cha Cha’s</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">watching the Mermaid Parade. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>This is my favorite day of the year</i>,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">said Danny, snapping pictures</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">with a camera recently lifted</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">from the trunk of a Buick.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>They need Mambo Mermaids</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I said, as Zombie Mermaids,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">and Vampire Mermaids</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">sauntered by. He ignored me,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">entranced by glittery pasties</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">and hundreds of tits.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I had met Danny at the Siren Festival.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>You can be my Coney Island Baby</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">was the first thing he told me,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">while the New York Dolls played.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We danced straight down Surf Avenue,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">all the way to Seagate where he rented</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">a room from a bunch of rabbis.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We’d been together almost a year.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">You don’t need calendars on the boardwalk,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">time is measured by cyclone screams,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">sideshows, and wooden horses,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">by two shadows on the sand,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">by memories of striped chairs,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">and thunderbolt rides.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We climbed down the stairs.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Danny tried to steal an antique car</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">but nobody took him seriously.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Coney Island kids paraded in wigs</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">left behind by drunken mermaids,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">who now littered the street,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">pasties lost, and breasts drooping.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>This is the best day of the year</i>,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">said Danny, as we drank warm beer</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">and headed towards the after- parties.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We were never invited, but it was the best</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">day of the year, and we weren’t worried</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">about a thing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>© puma perl, 4/13/09</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;">~ ~ ~</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">I want to interject that this poem coincidentally hearkens back to a very fortuitous day in the history of Tattoosday. For it was on July 21, 2007, when I attended the Siren Festival, the same day mentioned in the poem, when the first seeds of the Tattoosday concept began to sprout in my brain. For it was on that day, when we saw the New York Dolls, that I spotted a Keith Haring tattoo and started to connect the idea of asking about someone's tattoo, and blogging about it. Ten days later, the <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2007/07/introducing-tattoosday.html">first Tattoosday post</a> came to life. My recap of that day in Coney Island is recapped <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/2007/07/coney-island-siren-festival-sunset.html">here</a>, on <a href="http://oxypoet.blogspot.com/">BillyBlog</a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"></div><br /><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Puma Perl is a NYC-based writer, performance artist, and curator. Her poetry and fiction have been published in over 100 print and online journals and anthologies. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rfa9P8G721M4WeBFiVkDSUgZGBaoUVOYf_zqRA6rO_iXj5oKgFWwq8NcCSR1PMnnFa1mvw1u5AW7OM-nMH_AEBJSGvUdSZATx_2Hm-RpAVsxKMwJX-P5Fp_E5uvH0ZTs8VdqpBMUpPA/s1600/belinda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rfa9P8G721M4WeBFiVkDSUgZGBaoUVOYf_zqRA6rO_iXj5oKgFWwq8NcCSR1PMnnFa1mvw1u5AW7OM-nMH_AEBJSGvUdSZATx_2Hm-RpAVsxKMwJX-P5Fp_E5uvH0ZTs8VdqpBMUpPA/s1600/belinda.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />She is the author of the award-winning chapbook, <a href="http://www.erbacce-press.com/#/puma-perl/4531745901"><i>Belinda and Her Friends</i></a>, and a full length collection, <i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1906588643/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=bill03-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1906588643%22%3EKnuckle%20Tattoos%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bill03-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1906588643%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">knuckle tattoos</a>.</i>  <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgzFkhgNiBzAmbahu8JQO2Qk4oPHKwKEkfe7NdhMDTNfNCtC8eL0UXUn9Ov3rakS2gKFRryxFdPaN7psmHMdmZb7VBxg_UqcNzsvGSlnF8tAk-BGI5Y2dqmc-jq1ObqsV1qcB3PJmdGSY/s1600/knuckle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgzFkhgNiBzAmbahu8JQO2Qk4oPHKwKEkfe7NdhMDTNfNCtC8eL0UXUn9Ov3rakS2gKFRryxFdPaN7psmHMdmZb7VBxg_UqcNzsvGSlnF8tAk-BGI5Y2dqmc-jq1ObqsV1qcB3PJmdGSY/s1600/knuckle.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;">She lives and writes on the Lower East Side and has facilitated writing workshops in community based agencies and at Riker’s Island, a NYC prison. She is a founding member of DDAY Productions, which presents poetry and performance events. Link to her blog for info about book purchases and events: <a href="http://pumaperl.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">http://pumaperl.blogspot.com/</span></a></span><span style="color: purple; font-size: small;">.</span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: purple; font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-size: small;">Thanks to Puma for sharing her awesome tattoo and poem here on Tattoosday, on the Tattooed Poets Project! Remember, all contributors, including those from 2009 and 2010, are indexed <a href="http://tattooedpoets.blogspot.com/2010/03/index-of-tattooed-poets.html">here</a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; 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"><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"; font-size: x-small;"> 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></span>

The Tattooed Poets Project: Puma Perl

It is with great pleasure that we present another tattooed poet, Puma Perl . She offered up this beautiful tattoo: Tattoo by Emma Griffiths,...

Read more »