Ashley's Two Little Birds

Last July, I met two tattooed women, Becky and Ashley, outside of Borders (Becky's post is here, Ashley's is here) on Penn Plaza.

A few months later, in one of my more embarrassing moments as an ink-spotter, I approached Becky again, outside of Macy*s, and asked her about her tattoos. She reminded me that she was already featured on Tattoosday, and I reddened, apologized, and moved on. In my defense, the tattoo I featured was on her foot, and it was covered in the subsequent encounter.

Flash forward to the last Friday in April, and I spotted both Ashley and Becky again, outside of Macy*s. I wasn't sure, but something seemed familiar, so I approached cautiously. Becky had dyed her black, so my failure to identify the two of them immediately was again explainable.

But unlike the previous encounter with Becky, this time I wasn't embarrassed and Ashley volunteered her two newest tattoos.

Ashley, a make-up artist, about two months ago, had two small "Mom" and "Dad" tribute tattoos inked behind her ears. Mom is on the left:


And Dad is on the right:


The birds remind her of something that her mother would tell her when she was a little girl. She would tell Ashley that if she wasn't good, the birds would get her. That, combined with the small forget-me-nots, make these small, pretty, tattoos nice tributes to her parents.

The work was done by Mohawk John at Three Kings Tattoo in Brooklyn. Work from Three Kings has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Ashley for re-visiting us here on Tattoosday and sharing her newest tattoos!

The Tattooed Poets Project: Meredith Sugarman's Interpretation of a Russian Prison Tattoo

As the end of National Poetry Month approaches, I find myself in an enviable position: too many poets' tattoos, too few days. So, I've decided to "double up" and make today a "Two for Tattoosday". I have also realized that this Tattooed Poets Series will have to continue, in one form or another, above and beyond National Poetry Month. Stay tuned for more details.

In the mean time, Meredith Sugarman, a poet from Brooklyn, sent in the following photo:


I know, I know, you can't see the whole piece in that shot, but it's pretty cool, and you can get some detail on the sparrow. Here's a more traditional shot:


Meredith explains:

"I happen to love tattoos as a intimately personal expression of ourselves...

[This] ... is an interpretation of a Russian prison tattoo that families and lovers got when they were separated by prisons and Stalin's concentration camps. The tattoo is a traditional pair of swallows holding a three-piece banner with the Russian acronyms: tomsk (a city in Russia); vino (wine); omyt (whirlpool). The acronyms stand for: you alone have my heart; come back and stay forever; it is hard to leave me.

Alex McWatt at Three Kings Tattoo did an amazing job at putting all the elements together. I decided to get this tattoo after losing most of my family members, but mainly after my mother, who is a drug addict, disappeared from my life 5 years ago."

Meredith also submitted a poem about her mother that she composed after seeing a prison mugshot of her a couple of years ago. That poem is posted here on BillyBlog.

Alex McWatt has had work appearing before on Tattoosday, here.