Vincent Francone's Angel and Devil Tattoos (The Tattooed Poets Project)

Our next tattooed poet is Vincent Francone. Vincent has two amazing tattoos on his upper arms:

Vincent explains:

"I got the angel tattoo first. It was meant to be a caricature of my (then) girlfriend (now my wife). A year later, I decided to get a demonic version. I was looking to create a theme-- the angel on one shoulder, the devil on the other. That sums up my life-- always fighting to decide what to do with two distinct voices in each ear pulling me in opposite directions. The shop for both was Deluxe Tattoo in Chicago. The artist was Tim Biedron."

Incidentally, work by Tim Biedron has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Vincent sent us the following poem:

A True Account of Talking to the Sun in Chicago

The sun wouldn’t take my call

at first, so I insisted,

sent a friend request,

bombarded him with emails

until finally, out of frustration,

he relented.

“Francone, what is it?

What’s so goddamn important

you have bug me

while I’m working,

which, in case you didn’t realize,

is always?”

“Well…” I had nothing

to ask, I just wanted

to be in contact,

but the sun insisted:

“Let me guess,

you’re hoping to be

the next Mayakovsky

or O’Hara

the first two poets I spoke to

but—sorry to be

the bearer of bad news—

lots of minor poets

have invoked me in

their minor poems

and pretended to speak with me

so I no longer have much

to say to poets

minor or major.”

I was dejected,

as you can imagine,

but pressed regardless

like a stubborn dog:

“Couldn’t you

advise me anyway?”

“Sure,” he said:

“go and get your MFA.

It might be folly,

and a lot of cash

it’ll cost but it’s worthwhile

if you’re into writing balderdash.”

“I’ve tried,” I lied,

“but it was a drag,

more times than not

I wrote what my

professors wanted,

which was a lot of rot.”

“I’ve seen it,

your grad school verse,

and I’ve seen your others;

you could do a lot worse

than write what your

professors want.

But you could probably

do better, but

who cares?

Poems won’t change

either of us. 

And there’s so damned many!

Who can read them all?

I used to keep up

but I’m tired—

too much being written, I’m

overwhelmed. Francone,

why add to the deluge?”

“Because,” I said,

“where else

but in a poem

would I get to use

the word deluge?”

He rolled his eyes,

said: “That’s the trouble

right there: when

in everyday conversation

would you use deluge?

Never—so why put it

in a poem?

To make your poem seem

like a poem?

That’s the cheapest

poet’s trick.

It only further

alienates the audience,

which is a small lot

to start with.

Better stick to straight

talk, nothing so

polysyllabic 

and no tortured symbols!

Keep it direct,

keep it pure,

just say what you feel

and try to feel something

other than self-pity,

dull as all get out—

don’t bore the poor world

with your self-doubt.”

I had no retort— no more

to state, having indeed

done as the sun said

not to do too often,

written bad poems

riddled with ennui

that I had no right

to have pretended to feel;

I wrote them because

that’s what I thought

a poet did—that’s

what I was taught.

“Hogwash,” said the sun,

reading my thoughts.

“Of course I read your

thoughts—a good bit better

than your poems.

Anyway, if that’s what

they taught you,

then you’d best forget

all you learned

in graduate school.”

“How can I? The bill

comes each month.”

“Well,” said the sun,

having the last word

as he always will

“looks like you’re the fool.”

~ ~ ~

Vincent Francone is a writer living in Chicago whose work has appeared in Spectrum, Rhino, New City, The Oklahoma Review and other journals. He won 1st prize in the 2009 Illinois Emerging Writers Competition and is polishing a book for publication. Read his blog at www.zombiedante.blogspot.com and look at his collection of smug writer poses at www.faceandhands.blogspot.com

Thanks to Vincent for his contribution to the tattooed Poets Project on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoos are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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