The Odyssey is a story I've been obsessed with since high school. So naturally it should be the subject of my first tattoo. Better than Icarus, all that yawing tumbling angst, right right right? Maybe there will be more. Maybe not. This one took me so long from conception to realization, I might not have that persistence in me again.

The pain was awful, I thought the needle was going to buzz right through me at times. David Foster Wallace helped me pull through, bless the man, and the sweet strains of a metal band that sounded kind of like Donald Duck. I mentioned this and my tattoo artist said I'd ruined "Skeleton Witch" or something like that forever. When I got home, wobbly-legged, I messed up my wrapping bandage right away but had brown mailing tape at home so now I am bandaged up like an express package and smell like a post office and various other grime I will have to live with for now, as I cannot shower yet. In the morning begins an awkward cycle of wash, moisturize, do not scratch or pick or form a scab.

Of these adventures, Muse, daughter of Zeus, tell us in our time, lift the great song again.