The Tattoo

Ink from the 
darkest nightmare,
tumbling across 
skin in swirls,
from a parchment of 
living tissue
emerges
a story
born of some
strange dream and 
personal meaning.

Dark lines and 
skewed
colors under 
a layer
of blood 
and each small
pain
a tribute,
a tithe, 
paid forward by
an art piece who
wields a needle.

Alice woke up one fine morning with a tattoo on her stomach. This would have been unremarkable except that when she went to bed the…