Map.

Map.

A map of creation rests silently above my porcelain skin. Imprinted. Lines take shape and reach further beyond limits to document the contours of form. Two tiny tendrils of black circle and envelop my inner thighs. There’s no place untouched by the black vines climbing down and around the hips and small arch of my back. His rough arms reach across. Arms touching exposed valleys while moving closer against the canvas of flesh.

The color of the mermaid tattooed on his left arm appears to bleed into his skin. She’s weeping profusely as the needle enters my skin. Penetrating the thin layer of flesh with its intent the sharp instrument spreads the secrets of its inside. Throughout the surface the color spreads. Stamping itself into the bare reaches of the flesh canvas. Dark emotions swim from the petite lady sitting on his upper bicep as he continues to work. An artist crafting a masterpiece like no other before while I sit patiently waiting. In and out the needle works. The sound hums as I wait. Buzzing melodically to accompany the insatiable feeling of enjoyable pain that entices the receptors in my skin. Color grows larger and longer reaching upward and toward my face. The lines follow the symmetry of my breasts to complete the whole of the torso.

Branded by markings that reach beneath the surface in a sensation that is like nothing felt before. Unique identifiers laced in and out of the dermis to isolate one person from another. The only thing to separate the masses and it rests above your skin. An unprotected barrier now covered in a slightly bluish black outlined by red throbbing with an irrepressible pain that is more satisfying than unpleasant. Far from displeasing the sensation deepens the awareness of the body. Hands reach into the small curves of my small frame and grab to hold tighter as the surgeon continues steadily with his instrument.

Chair spins and rotates upward and around to follow the lines of my upper body while his hands move the mermaid never stops her tears. Her green tails swims in and out of my imagination while the final words are laced into the curls that stretch from the front up to the side of my neckline. The only thing I can visualize is the small tip of her green tail as it swims in the movement required to shift the needle against the remaining pieces of white skin. There are no souvenirs from this journey to commemorate the previous experience unaffected. No empty places or patches of bare left in this blueprint of life. Squills wind down one side and back up to the top of another in the pink light that falls clear through the windows upon the camouflaged bareness.

Head to toe the dark lines are woven tightly. His hands work harder than overtime to fill in the details that extend from neck to tailbone. Little stings penetrate beneath the shoulder blades to indicate a presence of intrusion. In. Out. Color is sewn into the skin like the threads drawn into a thinly spread fabric. Intertwined over and over again until tightly packed against the surface. Lines of blackish blue exit with the color of red that begins to darken once wiped from the dermis.

The map comes closer to completion as the chair circles and flips around once again. Hands spread the legs and reach inward between to draw in the details that flower in an otherwise unnoticed bloom. Tiny buds drips gracefully from the naval extending in the far reaches of bloom. A bloom that is intensified by the flush of red, rawness beneath the masterpiece of ink. As the final lines reach around the center connecting breasts to legs through small a thread joining gravity hands draw nearer to completion. Creation begin at the center of the body spiraling outward and exiting through the top and bottom coming to a rest tattooed in a permanent guide for any that should lose their way upon this journey.

Map. tattoo. ink. Many people have gotten a little ink. Sometimes to remember or remind us where we’ve been and where we are going. Tiny roadmaps of life carefully etched into our skin. I’ve no words to say much more than… make sure it means something to you, if you ever do. Enjoy! kisses. m.