[writing] my body, my blank page

And such a pure white page it is, too. It's only fitting that I write on it.

Two years ago I got this tattoo as both a promise and a celebration. I made the choice to pursue my writing seriously, with the solid goal of publication, and chose this design to echo what I felt to be important to me as a writer. The Elvish is of course for Tolkien, and my love of fantasy. It says "My silence will not save me," which is a paraphrased quote from the writing of Audre Lorde, a famous and brilliant feminist poet.

I reached my first goal this past April and now it's time to record and celebrate that by going back to Alex, my tattoo artist, and beginning the Book of Me.

A black base piece that echos the themes of the frame at the top, and then a branch climbing my spine with the name of my published poem in Elvish script will be etched into my skin on Saturday. It's both a reward and a further promise to myself. I've taken the first step, and now it's up to me to keep moving. My writing has been at a standstill, more or less, for months. Time to rededicate myself.

Perhaps in ten years time my back will be an extensive record of a rich and diverse career. Perhaps the branches will be sparse and few. Perhaps there will still only be the one word, solitary and small. But I will not have been silent, whatever the outcome.