Phoenix's Sleeve is Out of This World

Back on August, I met a man named Phoenix in Penn Station who shared the sleeve on his right arm.

The work starts near his shoulder, with a traditional-style pin-up girl straddling a rocket in an outer space motif:

The cat perched on the rocket in front of the woman represents Phoenix's love of animals.

The centerpiece of the sleeve, however, is lower on the arm and represents his love of astrology:

From a practical purpose, he had his natal astrological chart wrapping around his limb. In theory, he told me, anyone who knows astrology could come up and read his arm and gain insight into his astrological makeup.

Phoenix was born with the Sun in Aries rising in Leo and with his moon in Gemini.

This work was done by Lou at Third Eye Tattoo in Park Slope, Brooklyn, about six years ago. Lou's handiwork has been featured many times over the years here on the site and can be seen here.

Thanks to Phoenix for sharing his spectacular sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

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.

The Tattooed Poets Project: Tantra-zawadi

Today, as we enter our final week of this year's Tattooed Poets Project, we are honored to have Tantra-zawadi as our tattooed poet.

Photo by Arnold Browne

Tantra shared the tattoo visible on her right arm:

This tattoo was done by Louis of Third Eye Tattoo in Brooklyn. Tantra explains:

"Swans usually mate for life…Passion is a given in my work and how I love...The inspiration to become a part of something or someone for the duration of the journey is deeply beautiful.  Breathing through the ripples, the illusions, the wounds, the truth, the laughter, the healing and the magic of letting love…Sharing life IS the adventure! My poetry, like the mating of swans has been a part of my consciousness since I was a girl child.  It has grown with me and in me; writing candid love notes on my heart to the groove of house music in my soul!  I am life poetry."

Tantra also shared this tattoo:

Photo by Arnold Browne

On her left shoulder is the line "We make love in the way of the spirit," from her poem "Third Eye Kisses" (Gathered at Her Sky - Poets Wear Prada Publishing 2010).

Tantra shared this poem with us:

Poem for Haiti

Toe nails painted red
Fingernails and
Lips thus stained

I look at her cleanly
Parted scalp
Plaited locks of wisdom

With lavender ribbons

Gathered at her sky

Vibrant energy skirted and

Pleated from waist to ankle

With her hands delicately

Placed upon her chest

One on top of the other
Motionless

She was gentle
(I think) Most likely
Waiting for her groom
for she was a good girl
before she was swallowed

They lay in piles
the brown people tinged gray
and I wonder
if the one with the chocolate hand
was her beloved

Respectfully waiting for his bride

He dreamed of her too
(I think)
before he was swallowed

Butthereweresomany

Thereweresomany

Thereweresomany

Fairies, maidens
Princes, poison apples
and ogres in the agony of
Hushed lullabies and wailing
Absent walls or petitions

Only tears of freedom

Gushing in perfect French
pooling into mud cakes and spirits
that rise from their dust

Excerpt from Gathered at Her Sky - Poets Wear Prada Publishing 2010

~ ~ ~

Tantra-zawadi best describes her work "by the love that I make through my art to the vision of the unseen reality."  Soulful and sublime, her poetry explores love in all its forms; from the rush of the first kiss to the bittersweet.  Born in Brooklyn, New York, as a performance poet and published author, Tantra uses her voice to support the rights of women to exist, think and create through art.

Tantra has performed to standing-room audiences at venues as far away as South Africa, London, Germany and Toronto as well as venues closer to home in the tri-state area.  She has performed original works in the off-Broadway productions of Girl – A Choreospective, A Night of Three God/desses: Soldier Blues and Powerful Women, An Evolution in Reinvention, the Numeral Three, Leaving My Apartment and Other Urban Adventures and projects with the vonduvoisdancecollective. Tantra's recent appearances include the New York Public Library of Performance Arts at Lincoln Center, Badilisha Poetry X-Change Festival in Cape Town, South Africa and the Montserrat Poetry Festival in Missouri.  Tantra is a 2010 Pushcart Prize Nominee and a recipient of the Kings County District Attorney's Office Women’s History Month Award for her artistic contributions to the borough of Brooklyn.

Tantra’s latest release, “Gathered at Her Sky” from Poets Wear Prada Publishing, is available at Amazon and LULU.com (June 2010).  Tantra, a mentor for Girl-Child Network Worldwide (GCN), will donate partial proceeds from Gathered at Her Sky to GCN to provide education, personal items and empowerment for girls in Zimbabwe.  Tantra is also the author of “alifepoeminprogress” by Chuma Spirit Books, and her poetry was featured in Essence Magazine and in spoken word publications such as Redeye, Spoken Vizions, defpoetryjam.com, Platinum Poets, Sunpiper Press, Souled Up and poetswearprada.com.

Tantra-zawadi is the host of her own spoken word series, WORDSPACE, and has made several appearances on cable television, local and satellite radio shows. Known for being on the cutting edge as an artist and for speaking out about issues such as HIV and AIDS awareness, Tantra’s poem and video “Scarlet Waters,” was featured on the Product(RED) video wall created by U2’s Bono and Bobby Shriver, to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS in Africa.  Her short documentary, “A Silent Genocide ~ A Brief Insight into HIV/AIDS” edited by Oliver Covrett, takes another look at the personal impact of this disease.   Tantra also participated in a public service announcement for BETAH Associates produced by Marc Herbert Productions aimed at promoting HIV/AIDS awareness.  Tantra’s videos and films may be viewed on-line @ www.youtube.com/tantrazawadi.

Tantra-zawadi is a member of Collective Spirits and their “Love Planet” EP produced by Jonny Montana and Neil Maclean (Camio Recordings), showcases Bennett Holland on keys, Tantra on poem and Dana Byrd on vocals (traxsource.com).  Tantra is also a contributing artist on poetry compilations such as the award winning “Liberation Sessions: Soul of the City CD” by Mwalim (cdbaby.com), “Summerbreeze EP” by Dolls Combers (traxsource.com), “Poetic Stimulus” by Atlanta Red (poeticstimulus.com), “EARTHOLOGY” by Floyd Boykin, Jr., poet/founder of Spoken Vizions Magazine (cdbaby.com), “Rizen” by Cendrine Marrouat, recordings with world renowned DJ Groove Assassin on “Love Seeker” (GKF Records), Soul Agenda’s “Don’t Let It Go,” Nastee Nev’s “Secrets of Life” and “Giant Steps – Back From Miami” with Dana Byrd on vocals for Do It Now Recordings - all available at traxsource.com.

Follow Tantra-zawadi Online:

www.tantra-zawadi.com

http://www.pw.org/content/tantra_zawadi

www.facebook.com/tantra.zawadi

www.myspace.com/tantrais

www.blackartinamerica.com/profile/Tantrazawadi

~ ~ ~

Thanks to Tantra-zawadi for sharing her tattoos and poetry with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is 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.

Tom's Homage to His Grandmother's Scottish Ancestry

I met Tom in a drug store in my neck of the woods in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

He has four tattoos and offered to share this one with us:

This piece celebrates his lineage, honoring the family crest from his grandmother's side.

The Scottish part of him is descended from the Clan Fergusson.The clan motto Dulcius ex asperis  means "Sweeter after difficulties".

This was tattooed by Lou at Third Eye Tattoo, in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Work from Lou and Third Eye that has appeared on Tattoosday can be viewed here.

Thanks to Tom for sharing his family crest with us here on Tattoosday!

Fabiana's Most Important Tattoo

If you haven't met Fabiana's ink yet, you may want to check out her previous posts here and here before continuing. The above tattoo is on her right bicep and has a remarkable story behind it.

Fabiana was born in Italy. When she was three years old, a mirror belonging to her parents broke. Rather than throw the whole thing out, Fabiana's father, who loved to paint, took the wood on which the mirror had been mounted, and painted this cross:


Sadly, her dad passed away about a year later and Fabiana's mom, wanting her family to have a better life, moved them all to the U.S.

Years later, as an adult, Fabiana decided to honor her father: "I thought about the painting and said Wow, it would be great to have a piece of my dad on me . . . so I took the painting to my tat guy [Lou at Third Eye Tattoos] and he was like, Sure!"

Fabiana loves this remarkable piece. She acknowledges that it's a bit different from the original but it still carries great meaning. Both Fabiana and her twin sister have the same matching tattoo to honor the memory of their father.

Thanks again to Fabiana for sharing another piece of herself with us here at Tattoosday.

Time Flies When You're Living and Dying

"No," I explained to Heather, "I don't troll the post office for tattoos." She was asking why, of all places, I stopped her in line at the Fort Hamilton Post Office in Brooklyn.

Really, it was a series of coincidences. My younger daughter was sick today, so I stayed home. Otherwise, I would have been at the main post office in Manhattan. But there I was, after an eternal wait in line, when I looked back and saw Heather talking to someone before getting into the endless line. I gasped. Heather has a lot of ink. She has sleeves (I think one was 3/4 and one was 1/2, I could be wrong) and a back piece that looks to be of significant volume, with other tattoos scattered across her self from neck to toe.

When I asked her about her tattoo count, she gave me an answer that you generally don't hear, except from the heavily-tattooed. "I estimate I'm about 40% covered." Wow. A lot of ink, indeed.

Heather gets tattooed by two main guys, and the piece she offered for Tattoosday was done by Lou Andrew at Third Eye Tattoos in Park Slope. You may be familiar with Lou's work, from Fabiana, whose ink has been appearing recently on Tattoosday.

Heather explained the piece, saying that the girl in the artwork has been "zombfied" to represent death

and the hourglass, with the wings, is symbolic of the fleeting nature of time ("time flies"), and ultimately, life. The detail is vivid and very well done:

I love the grains of sand falling in the hourglass and the red cobwebs.

Heather explained that this tattoo, on the back of her left calf, will have a companion piece on the back of the right, but not until fall. She acknowledged that her practice is not to get tattooed in the summer, when fresh ink is most susceptible to sun damage and fading.

Much thanks to Heather for sharing her tattoo here on Tattoosday! I hope she will make a return appearance in the future, perhaps later in the year when she has the other piece inked.

Fabiana's Saraswati Tattoo

First of all, let me first thank all my visitors who helped me get 10,000 hits in the month of June alone. That's more than the first five months of Tattoosday (September '07 to February '08, combined). I am grateful for your interest and hope you continue to visit us here.

Above is another one of Fabiana's tattoos. It is located on her inner left bicep and is the Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of arts, knowledge and music.
Fabiana first learned about this goddess while reading a Tori Amos book (probably this one) and thought Saraswati "was so beautiful....I knew she would bring me strength and knowledge".


This piece was inked by Lou Andrew, the owner and artist at Third Eye Tattoos in Brooklyn.

Fabiana's ink has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks again to Fabiana for sharing her body art here! If you like her ink, don't worry there's more appearing here later this month!!

Introducing Fabiana's Ink

My wife, Melanie, in the course of her daily travels, has the chance to speak with lots of people. Occasionally, they will talk tattoos, and she often promotes Tattoosday by handing out fliers to The Inked.

One such acquaintance is Fabiana, who has a whole of slew of tattoos. She has viewed Tattoosday, and has sent me multiple photos of her work. The above detail is from a piece on her upper left arm.

Here's a section not visible in the long view, from the inner part of the top of the shoulder/bicep:


Fabiana gets her work done at Third Eye Tattoo in Brooklyn. This piece consists of a butterfly, a rose, a sunflower, and some other flowers.

Here's their story...

"The flowers I just got about 1 month ago are Lilies! I love lilies. They are so beautiful! They are my fav! Purple is my favorite color and orange is my girlfriend's...so I got purple and orange for her!

Underneath that is my butterfly!

That tat was actually from about 6 years ago when I was with a different girl....we decided one day to get matching tats! NOT a good idea, she broke my heart! So I decided after a couple of years to have it covered up! I love butterflies, so my tat guy made it into a big beautiful butterfly, and added a pink rose as well. Under that tat I have my giant sunflower.

The sunflower I got for my ex-girlfriend Jill! We were together for 5 and a half years. All throughout our relationship she would call me sunshine...In that sunflower I also have a ladybug, that is for my twin sister... she loves ladybugs so I added one in!"

Thanks to Fabiana for sharing her ink here on Tattoosday! Stay tuned for more of her tattoos in the future. There's more to share!