My Pictish Beast Tattoo opus 577
| 10 May 2025 0135 Hours | | Behavior, Custom, Family, History, Linguistics, Psychology |
Among other peoples, I am a Pict--
The tattooed or painted ones of Scotland.
I first saw the petroglyph, 'Craw Sten' of Rhynie
Several decades ago atop its hill--
Angled salmon above and Pictish Beast beneath,
On a standing stone two meters high.
I have utilized the image of this Beast
As a logo on all my literature.
Now, after 10 or more years of pondering,
I am ready to endure a baptismal tattoo
On my own left forearm.
I shall be kilted, with a hippo tusk lying nearby,
Accompanied by a bunched cluster of ancient mammoth hair.
There shall be a Swiss cow bell, as part of my past.
I shall add ancestral Erectus and Neanderthal stone tools,
Formerly used to skin said mammoths.
An attending Turk there, shall represent the Fertile Crescent;
A South African shall represent our African human origins;
And Drew, the artist, returned from 39 years abroad
Will represent my own sojourn in Sweden.
We shall be conversing in Swedish and Turkish and English.
After one half hour, I shall be marked for the remainder of my life.
Just as the new pope was recently inaugurated into the church,
So shall I finally be enfolded into my Pictish fellowship.
This poem shall be read before commencing with the marking (21 May 2025).