The tattooed image is becoming passe as more and more people choose words to express themselves. Not just mottoes like “Death Before Dishonor,” but whole passages from novels or favorite poems.

The James Joyce one above is kind of pretentious for my taste but it’s better than all the poor unfortunate people who’ve chosen stuff from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and poems by Sylvia Plath.

The girl above chose song lyrics, from “New Found Glory” on one leg and “Cartel” on the other. I don’t know. Couldn’t she settle for lyric sheets?

The human doodle-pad look is kind of questionable to me, but in fact I have thought about a song lyric or two in memory of my son. After looking at the archives at contrariwise.org, a blog dedicated to literary tattoos, I’m more tempted to go for something really fun. How about this lyric from “Santeria” by Sublime:

Tell Sanchito that if he knows
What is good for him
He best go run an’ hide
Daddy’s got a new forty-five

And I won’t think twice to stick that barrel
Straight down Sancho’s throat
Believe me when I say that
I got something for his punk ass

That, I could live with.   What do you think about literary tattoos? Cool, stupid, or you already have several?