this is my skin
I don’t want to have pictures on my body
I want to become a piece of art
being a walking painting
I can’t be bought
but I can be admired —

                my skin becomes my second identity
                my serenity
                the sea shells are always open
                I carry my inner self on my skin
                for everyone to see
                painting my inside out —

but is my skin my identity?

or is it a colourful foil
                of the marks that society leaves on me?

is it a mask
                of unfulfilled tasks
                of a mystic dream
                that society changes every other week
                for the sake of economy?

the documents of the middle ages
weren’t written on human skin
instead the skin of cows were used
for the ancient writings
for ideas
thoughts
philosophy
science
all that’s supposed to be great about human culture
fitted on the skins of animals —

                words were tattooed on skin
                words upon words
                those are palimpsests —

before the words of the middle ages
that have been the words of antiquity
have been images of the pre-historical world
egyptian hieroglyphs are holy glyphs
glyphs mean pictures
pictures symbolise images
images transform meaning
when humans are apart
not within an appropriate distance for talking
so the words were separated from time
permanently installed in space —

                tattoos are quite the opposite:
                they are separated from space
                permanently installed in time
                by having a walking stick
                carrying around what could be called a museum:
                a fashion
                popular for two and a half weeks
                permanently tattooed into a breathing life form
                not into dead skin of the past —

the lasting effect is also
quite the opposite
as you might have figured out at this point.

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        © Dominik Alexander / 2023
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