Bob Dylan is quoted as saying, “All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die”. There is a good deal of truth in this statement and the leveling effect of death and age are important aspects of the poem “Tattoo” by Ted Kooser.
Individuality for the Price of Forever
Human beings of all cultures seek ways to differentiate themselves from the rest of the flock, so that they do not become an “Unknown Citizen”. One possible way for individuals to outwardly display their individuality is to get body art, possibly in the form of a tattoo. Unfortunately, as people age so does their skin and tattoos often take on new “shapes” as time goes by and
What once was meant to be a statement—
a dripping dagger held in the fist
of a shuddering heart—is now just a bruise
on a bony shoulder (lines 1-4).
The character in the poem has aged and now the once stark image on his shoulder is, like himself, not what it used to be.
Shifting Voice
The observant voice of the poem shifts from direct observation to a critical judgment referring to the tattoo as “the spot / where vanity once punched him hard / and the ache lingered on” (lines 4-6). The judgment, although disparaging, is laden with truth because often decisions made in haste and with vain connotations are typically fraught with regret as time unfolds.
Balancing the Shift
The observation continues as the voice points out that “He looks like / someone you had to reckon with, / strong as a stallion, fast and ornery” (lines 6-8). Kooser seems to be playing a balancing act pitting the past versus the present using the dual nature of time to offset the simultaneously positive and negative effects of vain decision making.
An Equalizing Setting
The voice’s sagacity rises up, but it does not become pretentious because it is grounded in one of the most inclusive consumer settings in the United States, a “yard sale” (line 10). The voice has placed itself in an arena of consumerism where all are equally important with unparalleled buying power bringing to mind the cliché, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.
Inside Inclusion
Within this setting the tired tattoo is revealed because the man has “his tight black T-shirt / rolled up to show us who he was” (lines 11-12). Alas, “who he was” is not at all whom he is, just “another old man, picking up / broken tools and putting them back” (lines 13-14). The great equalizer time has made this man another tired, dated, withered old soul with a “heart gone soft and blue with stories” (line 15).
Life: A Novel
What people do outwardly to separate themselves from the flock (tattoos, clothing, jewelry, etc.) eventually tires out and fades away like youth. The man in “Tattoo” had lived as he chose, “fast and ornery”, doing what he believed would establish him as an individual, but we are all both very important and absolutely insignificant; therefore, it is not how we look that separates us from one another. What really matters is how humans deal with the “stories” that happen everyday, especially the story they are writing with their choices and actions. The end of every human story is death, everything preceding that rigid resolution is based on our choices, and “We are our choices” –Jean-Paul Sartre.
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