To Get a Tattoo
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To get a tattoo
is to sit in the chair
humming to distract yourself
from the droning needle
who is supplying the harmony
and isn’t even near your skin yet
To get a tattoo
is to scan the pages
of the artist’s portfolio
and feign an interest in
bare-breasted mermaids and
commercialized kanji
To get a tattoo
is to listen patiently to the artist
as he tells you about his four year old
who wants “love” and “hate”
on her knuckles
just like Daddy
To get a tattoo
is to reach out and shake hands
with being eighteen
and promise your twenties
that you’ll spend every day
on a skateboard you don’t own yet
To get a tattoo
is to realize that your well-meaning mother
will begin her search for a wedding dress
that will cover your indecent bicep
and save your reputation
before you even have a boyfriend
To get a tattoo
is to defend the poetic meaning
of the dolphins on your lower back
on a first date five years later
with your future husband
who changes the subject
To get a tattoo
is to guarantee to yourself
that you will lie to your future children
and tell them that “That’s what happens
when you let your friends draw on you.
It doesn’t come off. Ever.”
To get a tattoo
is to be annoyed by it
twenty years later
because black and pink stars
encircling your wrist
are a pain in the ass to hide
To get a tattoo
is to bask in the glory of freedom
as you trade your blood for ink
and scream in the face of insecurity,
“Take that!, you haggard beast!”
all the while wondering if you were right
to get a tattoo
Bio:
Erica Nottestad is a recent graduate of UWGB and has been published twice in UWGB’s literary journal, Sheepshead Review.