My Marks

This was for the 'Your Story In Ink' Competition

The way in which I mark myself,
The ink that seems to be now quite common.
I get nervous, I shake, but I know what I want,
I have always been very sure of each and every one.

Never have I regretted them,
All twelve stay loved on my skin, they’re mine.
I know I will get more still, it’s an itching,
And the ideas for space and art will grow with time.

There are my eyebrows and the wolf on my calf.
And ‘It’s better to be hated for who you are,
Than to be loved for who you are not’, it says,
Written across my foot with complete belief so far.

Then a genie bottle on my thigh,
With a male angel emerging from its mist,
Holding tightly his demon woman, in such detail.
And a dragon across my back, entirely pride-kissed.

‘Made from Sheffield steel’,
Around my belly button, and some stars on one shoulder.
On the other is an angel carrying my granddads name,
The one that means the most to me, never growing colder.

My husband’s name on my wrist showing love,
And ‘Better thank your lucky stars’ on the other, my second ever,
And some unusual tribal on my forearm that turned out so great,
Many thought with me being a young girl it just wouldn’t work altogether.

Now I’m sure most of my tattoos,
Are not for everyone, and will get many opinions along the way.
But I have always thought hard about each one,
And I will always have these marks to show who I am and what I have to say.