Tattoo You

15 years ago, when I was 'closer to thirty than I was to twenty,' I went out & got my belly button pierced. I wanted a tattoo, but decided a belly-ring would be less permanent. It didn't take long for me to realize that I still wanted to get 'inked.' I had a little drawing of sunshine, I had carried in my velcro wallet as a teen. Every six months to a year, I'd pull it out & change it up a bit. After high school, it stayed the same for years & the corner of my folded up drawing frayed. In college, I added thorny, spinning braids as accent & stuffed it back into my my more adult-like wallet. A years or so after the belly-ring, I finally got inked. The drawing I had toted around in my ever-changing wallet became something more permanent. It's mine & I love it.

The rip-tide at the beach was strong. The waves slapped me like a big old dog licking a newborn, dousing me in the salty seas' saliva. Sometimes the undertow sucked my feet right out from underneath me. And sometimes it slammed me back to the sands. At one point, the seas saw fit to slip my belly ring right off of me. The belly-ring that I had in place for 15 years. The belly ring that marked my youth. The belly-ring that doctors simply taped down during surgery because I didn't have the nerve to remove it and their technician decided that he didn't either. Mother nature saw fit to steal my turquoise away, splashing salt water upon the wound & leave me with a new freckle right above the navel thus marking another stage in life.

So now, I want more ink & I'm not alone. (Singleton, I found this little yellow butterfly just for you)
Little Jose, one of the wayward boys, I took to the beach is six years old. He had 20 bucks to spend as he saw fit & his materialistic desires were two-fold.
One...he wanted a hermit crab
Two...he wanted a tattoo.


One of the surfshops offered henna tattoos at a not-so-reasonable rate. Jose was SOLD! He thumbed through the books of flash & found a pic he liked. It was big... well, twenty-two dollars big. But the henna-artist pointed out that he had the same design in a fourteen dollar size. Jose looked up at me. I shrugged my shoulders...'It's your money babe, just remember you want a hermit crab & he'll need food.' Jose looked back up at the artist and concluded. 'No, I want this big one & I only want to spend ten dollars.' He sighed heavily, 'You're just gonna copy it, right?' The artist smiled, 'OK kid...I get it. Ten bucks for the big one.'
He chose a scorpion because they are red and red is his favorite color, even if the tattoo only comes in one color~ henna.


Mermaid, dragonfly & fairie tattoo's just fascinate me.

My brother has a male fairy holding a violin and resting his head upon his bow...it's beautiful.

Inked by Eric Roberts of Prodigy Art in Silverspring, Maryland....I love the realistic appearance of this dragonfly. Give me a little more green in the wings...a little less black & a little more periwinkle blue in the body & make my tail two segments longer, please.


Above is a picture of a statue of a mermaid. She's beautiful & she looks like Kimbies. I know there are tattoo artists out there that could work wonders at bringing this basking beauty into the skin.