journal entries

getting ready

I think this will be the bird tattoo on my left shoulder, this summer. Or it will be something quite similar to this. I also want a red balloon (for an anti-oppression symbol) on the inside of my right ankle, and a white star (an old queer signal) on my right wrist. But. One at a time.

Published by Sinclair Sexsmith

Sinclair Sexsmith (they/them) is "the best-known butch erotica writer whose kinky, groundbreaking stories have turned on countless queers" (AfterEllen), who "is in all the books, wins all the awards, speaks at all the panels and readings, knows all the stuff, and writes for all the places" (Autostraddle). ​Their short story collection, Sweet & Rough: Queer Kink Erotica, was a 2016 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, and they are the current editor of the Best Lesbian Erotica series. They identify as a white non-binary butch dominant, a survivor, and an introvert, and they live outside Seattle as an uninvited settler on traditional, ancestral, & unceded Snoqualmie land.

5 thoughts on “getting ready”

  1. lady brett says:

    I've never seen a white tatoo before. It's lovely (something i don't often say of tatoos). The simplicity of the birds is very nice as well.

  2. Cowboy Cass says:

    Is the white star tattoo just a general queer thing? I have a blue star on my wrist as a symbol of butchness, but haven't heard of the white star…hmm.

  3. sinclair says:

    cass: I don't think the "white" is the symbol part, but the star is an old symbol yes. I have heard of it being blue (I think Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold has a description of the blue star?) or black, on either wrist, underside or on top. seems like there's a lot of variation in the symbol. I just LOVE white tattoos (especially on white people) and placed somewhere as obvious as the wrist I'd want it to be in a less-obvious color.

  4. Dylan says:

    I was thinking about a similar scattering of birds on my shoulder, but I might stick to my original idea of the Erin McKeown bird. My only worry there is that I’m not a huge fan of her music, though I do like it, and don’t want the tattoo to see like a fan thing. So then I was just thinking of doing bird silhouettes kind of like you posted, so I can add little ones in color one day, maybe for my partner and even kids.

    Funny that you want a red balloon. I’ve wanted a blue balloon for a long time too, because when a friend committed suicide we sent blue balloons into the sky with letters attached for him!

    I’m in the city June 7th until the 10th, but I don’t know that I’ll have to time to wander off and get a tattoo since the conference is pretty packed…

  5. birdonthewirenyc says:

    gorgeous birds. my little friends, they are.

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