My Favorite Literary Tattoos

This morning I was in a store and a young man was helping me who had a tattoo printed on his forearm.  I was trying to read it as he was moving around and putting my order together.  When I finally was able to make out the print, I realized it was a quote from one of my favorite poems.  And somehow, it was exactly what I needed to see (hear) to make my day better.  It reminded me of important truths.  It was kind of a powerful moment for me.  Which got me to thinking...

First off, I cant really ever see myself getting a tattoo.  For lots of reasons.  And secondly, a lot of the tattoos I encounter on a daily basis seem rather hastily decided.  The artwork is bad, the placement is unfortunate, etc etc.  Plus I think now that tattoos have becomes so ubiquitous, we never even really notice them very much anymore.  It's sort of not unique or special in any way to have one.

So this is not really a post advocating for running out and getting a tattoo.  I don't even like it when my kids draw on themselves!  But, the tattoo this morning reminded me of another time when I ran into a girl at LGO who had a Kurt Vonnegut tattoo.  And that had the same effect on me as the tattoo this morning.  It kinda touched me and got to me.  I was even, I'll admit, jealous of that tattoo for a moment.

So if I were going to get a tattoo (which I'm not)  (do you sense my deeply ingrained paranoia about this idea that you, my blog reader, will assume I might be advocating for tattoos)  (okay good, carry on).

I digress

So IF I were to recommend a tattoo (which I'm not), I would probably recommend one of these.

Which frankly (can I admit?) I find to be pretty awesome.

From the Outsiders

Catcher in the Rye

Catcher in the Rye

Kurt Vonnegut

The Outsiders

Catcher in the Rye

Kurt Vonnegut

Catcher in the Rye

Alice in Wonderland (photo by never going home on flickr)

Vonnegut

And even our darling Mr. Ryan Gosling has opted for a pretty cool tattoo up there on his upper arm - The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein