The Tattooed Poets Project: Karla Linden

Today's tattooed poet just missed the boat last year, contacting me after the month had already filled up. So, technically, Karla Linden, has waited the longest to see her contribution make it into the Tattooed Poets Project. Check out what she has offered up:


Well worth the wait, if you ask me!

Karla explains:

"This tattoo is a sacred symbol called a 'Hamsa' or 'Hand of Miriam' - it is traditionally for protection and also as a reminder of the five senses, melding in to a Sixth Sense.  Richie Castillo of Time Bomb Tattoo in San Antonio, Texas did it for me in June of 2010, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live."

We've had several hamsa on Tattoosday before, but this one is certainly the most colorful and vibrant!

Karla also contributed this poem:

For the Further Progression of Literary Domination

* * * * * *

"Bind her wrists with
typewriter ribbons

and

tattoo
Anais Nin
quotes on
her thighs."

Blindfolded,
they pull you down
on the bed

newsprint laid out
underneath you

and

the needle
buzzes.

Words form on flesh in between the silence:

Dreams are necessary to life.

then

Each contact with a human being is so rare,
so precious,
one should preserve it. 

in Courier typeface,
letter by letter

You wish this dream would never end,
that
the pressure of her hands,
her mouth on yours
and
the hot tattoo needle
raising a welt
with each stroke
would go on 'til dawn.