Famous Tattoo Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Tattoo poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous tattoo poems. These examples illustrate what a famous tattoo poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Taylor, Marilyn L
...a linen winding sheet
would already have been drawn
about her, the funeral drums by now
would have throbbed their dull tattoo
into the shadows writhing
behind the fire’s eye
while a likeness
of her narrow torso, carved
and studded with obsidian
might have been passed from hand
to hand and rubbed against the bellies
of women with child
and a twist of her gray hair
been dipped in oil
and set alight, releasing the essence
of her life’s elixir, pricking
the nostrils of her ...Read more of this...
by
Sandburg, Carl
...brick-dust, is calling the cows; he will form the letter X with crossed streams of milk from the teats; he will beat a tattoo on the bottom of a tin pail with X’s of milk.)
I don’t care who you are, man:
I know sons and daughters looking for you
And they are gray dust working toward star paths
And you see them from a garret window when you laugh
At your luck and murmur, “I don’t care.”
I don’t care who you are, woman:
I know a man is looking for you
And his soul is...Read more of this...
by
Dyke, Henry Van
...of the sea,
drinking in the long roar of the billows;
Or he sunned himself in the pine-scented ship-
yard, amid the tattoo of the mallets;
Or he leaned on the rail of the bridge, letting
his thoughts flow with the whispering river;
He hearkened also to ancient tales, and made
them young again with his singing.
Then a flaming arrow of death fell on his flock,
and pierced the heart of his dearest!
Silent the music now, as the shepherd entered
the mystical temple of ...Read more of this...
by
Brautigan, Richard
...dy Race:
white Nationality: American
Occupations:
auto body w
recapper, s
survey rod
arks: 6" hernia scar; tattoo "Mom" in wreath on
ight forearm
ull upper denture, may also have lower denture.
Reportedly frequents
s, and is an avid trout fisherman.
(this is how the dodger looked cut off on both sides and you
couldn't make out any more, even what he was wanted for.)
Your old buddy, Pard
Dear Pard,
Your letter explains why I sa...Read more of this...
by
Stevens, Wallace
...The light is like a spider.
It crawls over the water.
It crawls over the edges of the snow.
It crawls under your eyelids
And spreads its webs there--
Its two webs.
The webs of your eyes
Are fastened
To the flesh and bones of you
As to rafters or grass.
There are filaments of your eyes
On the surface of the water
And in the edges of th...Read more of this...
by
Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...f well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
With a purpose in life and a good deed to do--
And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.
So for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers--
On whom well-ordered households depend, it appears....Read more of this...
by
Hall, Donald
...could do
When Katie tucked her feet behind her head.
Her torso was a C-cup'd figurehead,
Wearing below its navel a tattoo
That writhed in suppleness upon the bed.
As love led on to love, love's goddess said,
"No lovers ever fucked as fucked these two!
Katie could put her feet behind her head!"
When Katie came she never stopped. Instead,
She came, cried "God!," and came, this dancer who
Brought ballerina suppleness to bed.
She curled her legs around my neck...Read more of this...
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