http://www.contrariwise.org Tattoos from books, poetry, music, and other sources. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I'm sure there will be much debate over whether or not this should be considered "literary", but this is Deaf Lexy's closed caption symbol.  She says: I was born deaf and I got the symbol tattooed because I pretty much learned everything I needed to know in life with the help ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/29/closed-captioning/ "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb..." - From Twilight by Stephenie Meyer This is Heather's Twilight tattoo.  Heather is a YA librarian who says that "this line embodies the spirit of all the books". http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/28/and-so-the-lion-fell-in-love-with-the-lamb/ This tattoo is on Aaron, who "regardless of the boy spelling," is indeed a lady. The So it Goes tattoo I got after having my beloved cat Jello Biafra put to sleep last year. He was only four. We never really were able to figure out what happened to him, but he gradually lost ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/27/so-it-goes-10/ Neil's tattoo is an illustration from The Headless Bust: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium by Edward Gorey. http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/26/the-headless-bust/ Kristin submitted this picture of her dust jacket tattoo, as well as a picture of the original illustration. This tattoo is based on an illustration by John Alcorn in Books! (1962), written by Murray McCain. http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/25/books/ Jennifer submitted her tattoo back in January and I finally got around to posting it: I just got a great new tattoo while visiting my sister in NM....I had it narrowed down to about ten quotes I liked, and my sister and her husband helped me pick out this one. "Nothing is worth ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/24/nothing-is-worth-more-than-this-day/ "But you can't give your heart to a wild thing; the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up if you love a wild thing. You'll end up ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/23/youll-end-up-looking-at-the-sky/ This tattoo is on Stacey. "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages." - William Shakespeare's As You Like It(Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166) http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/22/all-the-worlds-a-stage/ Jim Genzano explains his tattoo: The tattoo says "Elendil," the name of a character from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, written in Tolkien's Tengwar script.  In the Elvish language Quenya, the name means "elf friend" or "star lover." Elendil's name written in this fashion was often used as his badge and a device ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/15/in-memory-of-star/ This is J. Rippel's tattoo: Just an ever-present reminder of my love, my home, my muse, Illinois. Designed by a good friend. Byzantium, I come not from, But from another time and place Whose race was simple, tried and true; As boy I dropped me forth in Illinois. A name with neither love nor grace Was Waukegan, there I ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/14/byzantium-i-come-not-from/ This tattoo is on Nikki. This was posted as a part of “So it Goes” Saturdays.  The phrase “so it goes” appears in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five 116 times.  Can you help me collect 116 “so it goes” tattoos?  9 down, 107 to go. http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/13/so-it-goes-9/ This tattoo's owner says: Look Homeward, Angel is my favorite book of all time and a book in which I consider life-changing- the language and the rich linguistic elegance in which the book was written struck me so, so hard. Before this, I just didn't know anything could be so beautifully written. ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/12/hill-haunted/ This tattoo was submitted by Julie: This was my second ever tattoo. It comes from a poem I found in in art book titled 'The Flights Of Icarus' when I was a teenager in high school. I used to obsess over the eight poems in the book, reading and rereading them ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/11/circles/ This tattoo was submitted by Blackmagickbarbie, who says that her tattoo is "copied as verbatim, from the font to the punctuation." (I talk in a daze, I walk in a maze, I cannot get out, said the starling). - Excerpt from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/10/i-talk-in-a-daze/ Nieninque's tattoo is from The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.  It is Tolkien's original illustration of Smaug for the book's first edition. http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/06/09/smaug/ This tattoo is on a friend of mine, whose knitting wares you should peruse. Nature's first green is gold Her hardest hue to hold Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. - "Nothing Gold Can Stay" ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/05/24/nothing-gold-can-stay/ This is Jess's tattoo: The design is an abstract dandelion. I just thought it exemplified the sentiment perfectly. I got this tattoo about a month after Vonnegut's death. This was posted as a part of “So it Goes” Saturdays.  The phrase “so it goes” appears in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five 116 times.  Can ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/05/23/so-it-goes-8/ This is another tattoo that belongs to Dese’Rae Stage (first, second). I can see myself years back at Sunion, hurting with an inflated foot, Philoctetes in woman's form, limping the long path, lying on a headland over the dark sea, looking down the red rocks to where a soundless curl of white told me a wave ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/05/22/stanza-viii/ This tattoo belongs to Dese’Rae Stage (see her other tattoo), and was done by Ryan Falcon at Almost Famous Tattoo in Miami, FL. 3 lines from the poem "Tulips" by Sylvia Plath: And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/05/21/tulips/ This tattoo belongs to Dese'Rae Stage. Sam tapped her hand on the steering wheel. Patrick held his hand outside the car and made air waves. And I just sat between them. After the song finished, I said something. “I feel infinite.” And Sam and Patrick looked at me like I said the greatest ... http://www.contrariwise.org/2009/05/20/i-feel-infinite/