Nick Flynn Tattoo Poem

At first glance, one may think that “Tattoo” by Nick Flynn is about actual tattoos, however, Flynn uses tattoos as a metaphor to compare them to all the people we have loved. Flynn argues that throughout our entire lives we are affected by love, both in positive and negative ways. Each time you remind yourself of a certain love, you “inhale him back into you” (line 17), thus making a tattoo as a permanent reminder. In the poem, Flynn makes the comparison of the people you have loved to tiny skull tattoos in order to emphasize the everlasting effect your past loves have on you and who you’ve become. Within the first half of the poem, Flynn writes you are being continually tattooed, inked

with the skulls of everyone you’ve ever loved (lines 5-9).

This shows that you are constantly affected by the ones you love and have loved. This poem focuses on the theme of love and its influence on your life and body,

Love can come at unexpected times, through current situations or through memories, and they will always have that permanent effect on us, just like a tattoo. Because of strange stanza breaks, unusual imagery, and elongated punctuation, the reader can determine the deeper meaning of the poem. The two-lined stanzas signify short-lived loves, and the stanza breaks depict the break-ups and passing of loved ones. The imagery of skulls and the metaphor that love is a tattoo shows that love never deteriorates. And lastly, the poem is only two sentences long, so this shows the fluidity and never ending power of love. Too often people take advantage of love, but what they aren’t aware of is that their experiences with each and every person they have loved tattoo their mind to make them into who they are, much like a tattoo permanently inks one’s skin to commemorate a