Home > The Tattooed Poets Project > The Tattooed Poets Project: Cathryn Cofell
The Tattooed Poets Project: Cathryn Cofell
Posted on Monday, April 12, 2010 by New Tattoo Designs Today
Today's tattooed poet is Cathryn Cofell.
Cathryn prefaced her tattoo by telling me:
So, Cathryn says,
Thanks to Cathryn for participating in the Tattooed Poets Project!
Cathryn Cofell is the author of five books, most recently Kamikaze Commotion (Parallel Press). She's received 40+ awards for her poetry and essays which also appear in scads of journals and anthologies. She is a zealous advocate for the arts, having served as founding Chair of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, on the board of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and currently as Chair of the Verse Wisconsin Advisory Board and a pro-arts voice wherever she'll be heard.
Cathryn prefaced her tattoo by telling me:
"My tiny tattoo pales in comparison to some...Most of my adult life, I've wanted one, but always held back because I either 1) didn't know what I wanted or 2) feared I'd change my mind as soon as it was done (I change my mind as often as a hummingbird's heart beats) or 3) was working for a relatively conservative company."This last concern is one that everyone should consider when getting a tattoo. Not that Tattoosday is an Ink Advice blog, but companies can legally discriminate (and often do) against tattooed individuals, which is something many people do not think about when getting inked. At the time that Cathryn got her tattoo, she "was working for a credit union with a strict 'no visible tattoos policy' and ... was part of the management team that actually wrote that policy". She does point out that she was out-voted by the anti-tattoo contingency.
So, Cathryn says,
"This was the compromise -- small, discreet, but powerful -- and not so discreet that I had to become a pretzel or strip completely naked to see it for myself or show it to others....The poem that Cathryn sent us, seen here on BillyBlog, "came out on the drive home, scribbled on an old napkin".
The symbol I finally chose is one that I wore around my neck as a talisman for many years: the Nile River Goddess, Nathor, who represents strength, triumph, success. I was at one of those turning points in my life -- feeling low and falling lower, needing her and those ideals to be more firmly etched in and on me.
She turned my life around that day. I've thought about another since and probably will some day, but see 1, 2 and 3 above and you'll know why I'm still waiting!
Thanks to Cathryn for participating in the Tattooed Poets Project!
Cathryn Cofell is the author of five books, most recently Kamikaze Commotion (Parallel Press). She's received 40+ awards for her poetry and essays which also appear in scads of journals and anthologies. She is a zealous advocate for the arts, having served as founding Chair of the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission, on the board of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and currently as Chair of the Verse Wisconsin Advisory Board and a pro-arts voice wherever she'll be heard.
Category Article The Tattooed Poets Project
Powered by Blogger.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2010
(1437)
-
▼
April
(106)
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍 手彫り
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Cody Todd
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style レイアウト刷新
- We Want Boor
- Gazongas
- My Hoot Skipped A Beat
- Hootsband & Wife
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 風神
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Jozi Tatham
- STRENGTH
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 金魚
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style (^-^)
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Phebe Szatmari
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 桃太郎
- THROUGH THE LENS
- Wednesday Randoms - Wrist Tattoos.
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 牡丹
- A SONS LOVE
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Steele Campbell
- Tees.
- Reader's Tattoo
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Lisa Gill
- SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 牛頭馬頭
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 鯉 カバーアップ
- THE WAY OF LIFE
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Jeff Simpson
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- SOUL SUNDAY
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 下絵
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Cheryl Dumesnil
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Gina Myers
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style ドクロ
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style Skulls
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 下絵日
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Amber Clark
- The Tattoosday Book Review: Tattoo Traditions of H...
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Aaron Anstett
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- I like big....
- Puss In Hoots
- Immortal Tattoos - 2011 Calendar Girls
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Daphne Lazarus
- Error.
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 鯉 カバーアップ
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Rebecca Wolff
- Tutti Fruity
- Girls Hoot Girls
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 額
- Twhoot Dollar Tattoo
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Brendan Constantine
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Alexandra Teague
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style ここ数日の仕事をまとめて
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Julie Platt
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Rob Talbert
- formsping.me
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Jackie Sheeler
- Only Revolhootians
- Brains & Beauty
- Hoot Rod
- Hoot Child O' Mine
- Black and Whoot
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Lea Banks
- Touch the Museum
- Jackie's Transcendent Tattoo
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Chenelle Milford
- The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewhoot
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 麒麟
- Monday randoms.
- HEART
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Cathryn Cofell
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 額
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Seth Berg
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 鯉
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style information
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Tameka Mullins
- Ivanhoot
- Hootlines
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Jillian Brall
- Hoot In The Door
- The Tattooed Poets Project - Caroline Goodwin
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 桃太郎
- All At Sea
- Hoot To Train Your Dragon
- Anne's Flourish
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Joseph Millar
- Siobhan's Phantom Tattoo
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Erica Rivera
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 額
- Horimitsu TATTOO information
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Christine Hamm
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 面散らし
- The Tattooed Poets Project: Mark Nickels
- Japanese TATTOO Horimitsu style 龍
-
▼
April
(106)