I'm not confused about how tattoos work;
the lines of ink in my skin never looked so sharp
as the day they were etched.
Lemme back up.
Decisions are the soul's tattoos, and I'm in the middle of one—
a decision, I mean.
Lemme skip ahead.
Tattoos blur over time, images slipping
out of focus: permanent, but not.
Backing up again, but looking ahead:
here I am, oscillating, a grandfather
clock's pendulum, pondering permanence,
prodding the old tattoos in my arm. They were so clear once upon a time—
the right choices, I mean.
Skipping ahead again, looking back:
they've muddied with age, haven't they: every mistake,
every mistake's opposite.
About the Creator
Tyler Clark (he/they)
I am a writer, poet, and cat parent from California. My short stories and poems have been published in a chaotic jumble of anthologies, collections, and magazines.
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7 Ways to Evaporate
Stare into the fire too long. Step on a crack (do this after getting cursed by a witch; most witches will do this for free except for witches of the verdant variety—the kind that specialize in hearth & home—she won't curse you unless you break her heart first). Only smile at people who don't smile back, then listen to a sad song. Any sad song will do. I recommend Elliot Smith. Get a degree in the humanities, then spend the next ten years looking for work. Watch your student loans grow. Ivy over a garden wall. Eventually, the amount you owe is more than what you borrowed. (Note: In the end, the amount you owe is always more than what you borrowed.) Burn all of your journals. Do not recycle them. This would be a mistake. Your words might reincarnate and find meaning again as a cardboard box for a litter of kittens, or a bandage wrapped around the knee of a boy who fell off his bike. Get lost in an art museum or an ex's embrace. This will only last a day. But you can always return to what makes you break, and let it happen again. Make someone forget you. This is not as easy as it sounds.
By Tyler Clark (he/they)5 months ago in Poets
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