Part I (written November 3rd, 2009 here)
A map of the world is infinitely entertaining.
No matter your place of origin, a map of the world is always enough to give you pause,
to make you reflect, imagine, and bow down in the face of something beautiful.
I wish I could say peaceful,
bow down in the face of something peaceful,
but that’s so far from the truth that it makes me wonder if human nature
precludes peace.
Part II (written August 8th, 2012)
Intense enough,
committed enough,
serious enough,
to get a tattoo in the middle of your upper back,
to gather and brush aside your hair,
expose your upper back to the needle
of a tattoo artist,
but you only get continents,
you are not serious enough,
committed enough,
intense enough,
to also get the borders of countries outlined,
or maybe that’s not it at all,
maybe you have a higher vision in mind,
one that requires a higher state of being,
when borders disappear,
all that’s left are land masses,
divided however they divided when the world started off,
divided and called continents,
and within continents are countries,
and within countries are cities and towns,
and within cities and towns are people,
this world is made of people.
Maybe this is what you want to communicate
when you get a tattoo of the world on your upper back,
not a tattoo of a world map,
but just the world,
as if that weren’t enough.
