Stacy's Amigo Tugs Her Back to Milwaukee

At the end of July, I ran into Stacy waiting for the F train at West 4th Street in Manhattan.



She had a panther peeking out from under her shirt on her back, but we couldn't get the whole tattoo in a shot, so she offered up this piece on her right arm:

Stacy is a poet and the Artistic Director of The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York City. She has been here five years and originally hails from Milwaukee.



Living next to Lake Michigan has many benefits. Having always lived in a location near a large body of water, I can relate to her admiration for the beauty of a seascape, whether it be an ocean or a great lake.



Stacy told me she enjoyed watching the tugboats in her home town, and that these small vessels are a "connective image" that draws her back to her original home.



This tattoo was designed and inked by Stephanie Tamez at New York Adorned. Work from Stephanie on Tattoosday can be viewed here.



This is also the second tugboat of the summer. The first one is here.



Thanks to Stacy for sharing her tugboat with us here at Tattoosday. Perhaps we'll see her panther when the Tattooed Poets Project returns next April for its third year!

Simona's Scripted Ink

I met Simona in Park Slope, Brooklyn, back at the end of July. At the corner of Prospect Avenue and Prospect Park West, just outside of the Holy Name Church.



Simona had an unusual script around her right bicep:

This is written in Tengwar, a script created by J.R.R. Tolkien to represent the Elvish tongue. The text displayed here is the beginning of Aragorn's coronation speech in The Lord of The Rings trilogy.

The line displayed is "Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien," which means "Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come".



This tattoo was inked by one of the best tattooers of script around, Stephanie Tamez at New York Adorned. Work from Stephanie has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.



Simona also had this on her inner left forearm:

That is Hebrew for "chai" or "life".



She placed the tattoo there because that is where Jews who were interned during the Holocaust had been tattooed by the Nazis. It's tattooed there as an expression of solidarity with her faith and, as a reminder to never forget the horror that was the Holocaust.

Thanks to Simona for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!