Tattooed by You

By Virginia Winder

This tattoo, inspired by a Dr Who quote, isn't etched on me yet.... 

When photographer Peter Peryer died, I felt like one of the constants in my life was gone. I saw him nearly every week at Ozone or about town. He had touched my heart a dozen years ago and stayed there. But he's one of a thousand people - probably way more - now part of my inner landscape. Men, women, dead, alive... you're all there. This poem entered my head at Peter's funeral, but poured out this evening.

Tattooed by You

I’ve fallen in love with dead men

Celebrated women of guts and grace

Absorbed the lives of the living

For more than three decades

I’ve stood in your shoes

Slipped into your souls

Looked through your eyes

And seen the world your way

I’ve let you all in, barriers down

Soaked in the essence of you

And you and you and you

Until I’m forever changed

By every single person

I’ve pinned down in shorthand

Arranged with coloured felt pens

And then poured out

Through racing fingers

On to a white screen

Calibri font, size 11

Printed in Times New Roman

Well mostly.

I’ve slept with others

Yes – this much is true

Those recorded over the phone

Have been taken to bed

One earplug retelling your tale

In the dark of the night

The dog snuggled by my feet

Gentle snoring at my back

Then you’ve been released

At first light

By a woman in a red dressing gown

Who has hung on your every word

Delighted at each anecdote

Felt every pang of pain

And so, your tales

Are now part of me

Still yours, always

But every single story

Is written inside my mind

I’m tattooed forever

With the shape of your lives.