Tatuajes

Skin is an ugly color,
mi hijo dice,
so ugly I have to cover it
spill ink and let the needle
draw me the life I feel inside.
Outside should match
the stories residing in my scalp.

No más tatuajes, mi’jo, no más.
Abuela won’t reconized you,
your tías will blame Chicago,
your prima will try to get one.
They’ll say you’re a bad example.

Skin needs to be painted,
mi hijo dice,
draw flowers in its lonely surface,
twist and turn the hand with a needle,
calligraphy the names of the spirits
that walk with me in the dark.

No más tatuajes, mi’jo, no más.
You will never get a good trabajo
People will think that you’re a biker
or a ganster or a soldier with mental problems.
A good girl will never marry you.

Skin is so boring,
mi hijo dice,
you need to plant a tree to see it grow,
point out to the lie hiding on li(f)e,
carved some lemons in the hand
to make lemonade in the drought.

No más tatuajes, mi’jo, no más.
If it was only you and I,
if the society wouldn’t have written in stone
the rules for success and fortune.
If la familia wouldn’t expect you to inherit
more than the blood that bind us
under that skin you so eagerly want to change
maybe my worries would subsided
and I would also get me one
a tatuaje with your name
very close to my heart.




Por JVP
Fotos de Brandon Antonio Tilton Vázquez