I got my first tat when I was 18. Gave my full back to my brother who had just started his tattooing career. Years later, my immune system ate up most of the ink and dulled its vibrancy (esp the yellow). Now I’m having to touch up something that’s already incomplete (free tats aren’t exactly easy to schedule =P). My brother’s work has improved exponentially, but I don’t regret giving up a large canvas to his nascent talents.
It made me look back on my early adulthood. My earliest romance with poetry. In fact, this phoenix was largely inspired by one of my favorite poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which I hadn’t revisited in years.
Hope it inspires:
Eight People on a Golf Course and One Bird of Freedom Flying Over
The phoenix flies higher & higher
above eight elegant people on a golf course
who have their head stuck in the sands
of a big trap
One man raises his head and shouts
I am President of Earth. I rule.
You elected me, heh-heh. Fore!
A second man raises his head.
I am King of the Car.
The car is my weapon. I drive all before me.
Ye shall have no other gods.
Watch out. I’m coming through.
A third raises his head out of the sand.
I run a religion. I am your spiritual head.
Never mind which religion.
I drive a long ball. Bow down and putt.
A fourth raises his head in the bunker.
I am the General. I have tanks to conquer desert
And my tank shall not want. I’m thirsty.
We play Rollerball. I love Arabs.
A fifth raises his head and opens his mouth.
I am Your Master’s Voice.
I rule newsprint. I rule airwaves, long & short.
We bend minds. We make reality to order.
Mind Fuck Incorporated.
Satire becomes reality, reality satire.
Man the Cosmic Joke. Et cetera.
A sixth man raises his gold bald head.
rm your friendly multinational banker.
I chew cigars rolled with petro-dollars.
We’re above nations. We control the control.
I’ll eat you all in the end.
I work on margins. Yours.
A woman raises her head higher than anyone.
I am the Little Woman. I’m the Tender Warrior
who votes like her husband. Who took my breasts.
A final figure rises, carrying all the clubs.
Stop or I’ll shoot a hole-in-one.
I’m the Chief of All Police. I eat meat.
We know the enemy. You better believe it.
We’re watching all you paranoids. Go ahead & laugh.
You’re all in the computer. We’ve got all
your numbers. Except one
unidentified flying asshole.
On the radar screen.
Some dumb bird.
Every time I shoot it down
it rises.
