Paint drips disguise and
obliterate lies like ink-
daubed tattoos on eyes
fooling unconditional
considerate conviction.

Tattoos are supposed to be permanent.
They are supposed to stay in your life forever.
You were mine and I was yours.

But last I found out,
You drew me with a pen.
And with time you let me fade.
Replacing me with another name.

I badly wanted to erase you,
Peel off each color,
Forget each pigment,
Scratch away each line…
But you’re still always there,
Seemingly mocking me,
Like a tattoo I can’t just simply wash away…

Today I got a tattoo,
it reminded me of you.

It hurt like hell,
made me cry,
sadness swelled up in my right eye.

I like things that are bad for me I wonder why?

But it's very beautiful, so now I'm happy,
although at first the feeling was really ******.

The needle ****** my body
Ink flows from its point
Caressing my skin, creating memories
Could be a reminder
Or a message
The telling of a story
The marking of words and images
Upon my body to cover my scars
And turn them into art

Lady Macbeth washed her hands
cleaner than Pontius Pilate
with a new improved, bio-enzyme
oxy-bursting, 99.9% germ-scouring
recommended by dermato-logists
scented with rose attar
oils from Arabia
and spermaceti soothing
unguents from long dead whales.

She’s going to the nail bar
for a manicure and application
of semi-permanent, diamond-
tipped, acrylic base-coated
in red blood enamel.

She’ll scratch
and etch rich tattoos
on her husband’s back
with every ******, he will shudder
with pain and delight
He’ll soon forget long, dark nights
bewitched by ghosts and ambition.

© M.L. Emmett

i press memories into my skin
just to have a constant visualization of them
another one, a different view
the thought would rattle you, if you only knew
your body takes an idea, makes it beautiful
i trace the lines while you echo the stories
of each driving space that hurt less than the thought

You're ink.
I'm the quill:
I lounge, idle and mute
For want of your color on my parchment.

Like ink you've spilled
Into my life
And like ink you'll stay
Forever stained, an unfading tattoo.