Our next tattooed poet is Gary McDowell. Here's what Gary had to say about his ink:
"I remember thinking as a teenager that I’d
never get a tattoo. It wasn’t because I didn’t like them. I did. It
wasn’t because I was afraid of the pain. I wasn’t. I think it had
something to do with the fact that I had no idea what I would ever want
permanently etched into my skin. But as I grew older and my obsessions
and faiths and vocations started to align, I reconsidered, and now I
don’t ever want to stop.
Both of my tattoos come from an artist, Blaine, at Baby Blues Tattoos in
Bradenton, FL. My wife’s family has a condo on Anna Maria Island, FL,
and so we visit every summer. In the summer of 2006 I got my first
tattoo (the kanji for “poet/poetry” on my right wrist).
The
impetus for it was simple: I’m right-handed and a poet, and so the
thought of having poetry on my wrist appealed greatly to me.
Blaine did such a good job that in the summer of 2008, I went back and got my left calf worked on.
At
the time, my wife was pregnant with our first son, and we planned to
name him Auden; though his name was not totally derived from the poet W.H. Auden—my
wife found the name in a baby book and dug it before she even knew it
was a famous poet’s surname—I wanted to do something to commemorate my
Auden’s impending arrival, and so I decided on two of my favorite lines
from Auden’s 'The Question': 'And ghosts must do again / What gives them
pain.' It’s a gorgeous reminder that we must conquer our fears, take a
stance against what haunts us."
Gary sent us the following poem which, in his words, "exemplifies my work best":
