Tattoo

Published in the printed Issue 52.1 of ‘Wisconsin Review’

and in my poetry collection Uncharted Waters

Tattoo

 Your kiss buzzed in my head

like a fine needle running up,

down, drawing

dragons, anchors,

lovers’ names and mermaids

on yielding skin.

It hurt and yet I yearned

for its mark, carrying it

on my body

as the first sign of

an indelible

storyline of ink.

Hours, days of pain

made it black and unabashed

—a Polynesian tatau

that snaked around my torso,

neck and limbs,

passing on its powers.

From the dermis,

its pigments leaked

into my veins,

etched

the chambers of my heart.