Yawping

Still gathering my thoughts on Marquez, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on a conversation I had with Mary recently.

For some reason, I began musing yesterday about what sort of a tattoo I would get if I ever felt the desire to get one. Let me make clear that I will never get a tattoo. I change my mind far too often, and I can just see myself regretfully trying to wash one off with water as I used to be able to do with my childhood tats from cereal boxes. That being said, were I the type of person to get ink, what would it be? My first instinct was something nautical themed, like a boat or an anchor or something. I'm drawn to that classic romantic calling of the sea (even though I've never been on a ship on the ocean...). That may make me feel a bit like Popeye, though, and not in a good way.

I decided that I would most likely get a quote tattooed on me, probably from a poem (Mary said that this would be an acceptable choice in the alternate reality where I took my spendin' money over to Trader Bob's). After thinking about Tennyson and Dylan Thomas, I decided that I would most like to have something by Whitman etched into me, probably this quote:

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world.

It's from "Song of Myself" and was made famous in THIS clip from Dead Poet's Society, a movie I never liked much. It is, by the way, completely my fifth grade teacher's fault that I do not care for this movie, as she is the woman who almost ruined poetry for me. I know it's not the Hipster Way, but this bit of poetry would be my choice even though it is popular and well known. It is everything I love about Whitman, how he is somehow able to be inspiring while still feeling very familiar and rough.

However, I'm not sure I fit this quote. It's either a line for a tough guy or a rebel, and I don't think I'm either of these things. Spending my time reading or playing board games with my friends, I often feel very much tamed. Were I in a position to sound something over the roofs of the world, I'm not sure I could find my yawp. This poem makes me want to run off and do crazy things, just drop everything and see the world. If this were branded onto me, I would not be able to keep my cozy little job. I'd make a dash for the coast and jump aboard a ship bound for the horizon!

Of course, if I were the type of person who would get a tattoo, maybe I'd be a more barbaric chap. Instead, I am who I am. Instead of wishing I were more untranslatable, I should be content with celebrating and singing myself.

PS Speaking of Whitman, this is the current front-runner for the epitaph on my tombstone:
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

PPS Did you know Rip Torn starred in a movie as Whitman? Check it out!

PPPS Speaking of the lure of the ocean, Moby Dick is calling to me from the coffee table ... Daring me to crack it open ... See? A big adventure for me is reading a book about being out at sea.