The Tattooed Poets Project: David Jonathan Newman

Today's tattooed poet is David Jonathan Newman, who sent along this photo:

Dave explains:

"The tattoo is fairly literal; the state of Florida is burning, with the words "Til The Bitter End" aside it.  I moved to Miami for 4 years to pursue a relationship, and saw it out to its unfortunate conclusion.  The tattoo is born out of that experience, and I got it to help me put a finishing stamp on what happened there and what brought me back to Long Island.  None of us are perfect, but we can become stronger people if we have reminders of our mistakes and put them to good use to make sure they don't happen again.  This piece, along with most of the work on my body, was done by Chris Koutsis of Da Vinci Tattoo Studio in Wantagh NY.  I told him exactly what I had in mind, and between my ideas and his talents I was very happy with the outcome."

The following is my favorite of the several poems David sent me to choose from:

hello, atmosphere.

I keep the eyes of a rapist in a jar by my bed
walk lightly
for that part of the room is glass
modern-day sorcerer, am I
blueprints and otherworldly photographs in my drawers
beakers and tubes filled with dust
the cold makes it feel like home
and when the mirror talks to me, it only says
"I will wrap you in a sheet before this night is done."
well so says you, my sweet, but look what you've become
all my furniture, ghosts
rooms rife with other lives
no doors
my paintings are stolen from churches and are hanging backwards and are numbered one to infinity.

~ ~ ~

David Jonathan Newman has been a poet and vocalist/lyricist in bands, both on Long Island, NY and in Miami, FL.  He currently is working on a collection of poetry, writes music as a solo artist and has a blog (http://captainselfdestruct.blogspot.com) where he posts both his solid works and stream of consciousness ideas.  He's been winning poetry contests since 6th grade, and the poem above, "Hello, Atmosphere" won a writing contest at the SUNY College Of Old Westbury which was featured in Harmonia, their on-campus writing publication.

Thanks to David for sharing his tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday. The poem is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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Deepwater Horizon Fiasco; "And May Those Responsible Spend Eternity Keeping Company With The Devil"

(Could Oil From The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Reach Europe Via The Gulfstream?)

Opinion

I'll admit right up front that I really needed a break from blogging about political issues for awhile now. I'd like to think it's about the spring and the chance to get out and do things. But there's more to it than that. I tossed and turned until about 3:00am before finally drifting off to a very unrestful sleep for a few hours. I have this feeling of helplessness....it deepens every time I put on the news and see the latest about the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The situation alternately angers and saddens me.

But the worst feeling I have about this cataclysm, as Cynthia Tucker calls the massive oil spill, is not only the long term effects it will have on the Gulf Coast, but the potential it has for entering the Gulf Stream and fouling the beaches and waters of Florida, including the Keys, and then getting caught up in the current in a deadly move up the Atlantic Coast.

Key West. Islamorada. Marathon. Key Largo. Miami Beach. Fort Lauderdale The Palm Beaches. Vero Beach. Jacksonville, and then unto the Georgia coast and beyond. Ecological systems and coral reefs that had survived for thousands of years may soon be gone. The people who make their living from fishing and tourism will have their lives turned upside down. And the goo could keep moving North, to the Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey and Long Island, and to the treasure that is Cape Cod.

And what's to say the oil doesn't eventually wash up on the shores of Europe? And don't say "it can't happen". Never have so many been so wrong about so much so very often as in dealing with this mess.

I feel angry. I feel sick, and I feel helpless. So many things that I found wonderful about life, those things have no price tag because they are a gift from God, will be taken from me, and from the millions of others who loved them. And it didn't have to happen.

The disaster came about because of greed, laziness, and incompetence on many levels.

This afternoon I had a Charlton Heston- Planet of the Apes moment while watching the news that the oil had begun to enter the Gulfstream.

They've finally done it....DAMN THEM. DAMN THEM TO HELL.

"Them" being BP...TRANSOCEAN....HALLIBURTON....and The Department of the Interior's MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, a "regulatory agency" that's been in bed with Big Oil for far too long.

Also....those pols in the oil states who use oil company donations like a freakin' ATM, get packed....you're going to hell too.

And while you're on the way to "that hot place", take the rest of those "drill baby drill" politicians and the pinheads who cheered them on at rallies with you.

Hasta la vista, baby!

There....I feel better now.

It won't mean a damn thing in the Great Scheme.....but nothing any of us says or does seems to matter anyway, does it?

But at least a little bit of my anger has been vented.

The sadness? That's another story.