Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos

Submitted by Jessyintheskywithdiamonds:

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

- e. e. cummings, i carry your heart with me

Submitted by Katie:

I got the tattoo when I was going through a series of events I ended up losing a large number of those who were close to me. I got to a point where I was absolutely miserable and couldn’t find a good reason to wake up in the morning. I work in dorms and during my hard times some of my residents who I’d helped quite a bit throughout the year saw through my “I’m fine”’s and would come to me and would talk to me about all the different ways I’d helped them. In the midst of everything piling up it just reminded me that despite whatever BS I’ve gone through if I’m still able to wake up in the morning and help make someone else’s life better then my own will always have meaning. (The little flurries you see around the text are from a dandelion that’s on my back.)

Submitted by Cassie W:

“We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.”

- Che Guevara

Submitted by Pistol:

This quote is from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. After reading this book my mind seemed to be opened to a world I had been searching for but was incapable of finding myself. A place where people are respected for their virtues, not for their vices. Where ability is placed above need.

People constantly ask me what it means, who he is. It is difficult to articulate all of Ayn Rand’s beliefs and philosophies. After all, there is a 1200 page book based solely on the answer to this question. In short, it is a cry of desperation and a beacon of hope in the dark. I just pray some day an attractive man comes up to me and, after reading it, tells me what an amazing novel it was so we can get married and live happily ever after. It’s ok to dream isnt it?

Submitted by Heather Sundell:

Shel Silverstein was a huge part of my childhood. I was in love with his poems and his writing has greatly influenced my own. I loved this poem because it reminds me that there is always more to life than what you know . I also actually typed this on my grandmothers ancient typewriter. Also…it’s just pretty effin’ rad.

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

- Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein