Tattoo thoughts.

I've been thinking a lot about tattoos lately. Have always known I'll get at least one more (and let's face it, it's been nearly 9 years - how'd that happen?) and a few ideas have started taking shape. Not sure where, left wrist keeps coming to mind but I don't know that I want one there. What I want is a poem and one (or a few? Can't decide) IPA transcriptions (i.e. phonetic) of it. The poem is one of Saroyan's short ones:


lighght.

Read with your ears.

I went to a poetry reading the other day. Alice Oswald read a condensed version of her 'Memorial'. It was gory in parts, but the horribleness of the gore faded in comparison to the descriptions of the lives of the soldiers. Very powerful.

But that wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to quote something she said after the reading when asked about the rhythm of her poems and the repetition of lines.

Some people read with their eyes and some people read with their ears. Poetry is written for the ears, not the eyes.

It's that pondering time o' the night.

It's 4am. I've not been up all night in a very long time. It's odd, I used to do it all the time. Dad used to get up at 5 or 6 and I'd try to turn off computer quickly and quietly and rush into my bedroom, hoping he'd think I'd been asleep all night. I don't think it worked. NB.- if it did work: Dad, I'm making all this up. I slept a good 8 hours every single night!

In my first year of uni I didn't sleep much. And when I did it was usually in day time. It wasn't just that I was 'turning the day around', I'd be up for a few nights/days and then get overwhelmed by sleep.

I remember sitting on that scratchy blue chair by the window looking out at the courtyard, the other windows... it was a depressing sight. I did some of my best writing sat on that horrible chair, wrapped in my blanket.

...

Here's one. Don't judge too hard; I was a creative writing student after all...

Headlights

I stood still, staring into the headlights
hypnotized and full of fear
but also, admiration.
And I put another pound coin into the slot,
pushed hold, hi and lo a couple of times
   just to make sure I'd unlock all possible features
and gently, slowly, with as much confidence as I could gather
I pressed start.
Start, again.
Hi, re-spin,
lo, unlock megafeature
another pound coin
still hypnotized by the lights
  "Nevermind The Jackpots"
I couldn't move
     another pound coin in
press start, push nudge, and again
Hi or Lo, Continue or Lose?
  And suddenly it all went black.