Illustrated Woman
by Jon Goode

After thirty years or more
Of sailing solitary seas
And crashing upon these
Rocky relationships
I washed upon a Green shore.
There I became entranced when faced with this
Animated picture
On the canvas of your nakedness
An ever changing permanent fixture
That cannot be removed. A tattoo in fact
across the breadth of your back
That depicts two people in the act
Of growing old together
Of paving pathways foretold
In past days when the gods forebode
That separately at best they’d meet forks in life’s road
But together surf past any stress
Surpass any test
Live, laugh and survive
Deride anything less
Than the content of their hearts, minds and souls.
It’s the heart that finds and binds two souls
And adds the sunrays on those days when the times grow dark and cold.
I’ve heard some say and even I’ve been taught and told
That time is not what we think it is.
People may marry as adults
But as soon they entered the womb
They were linked.
And I think that it was as a kid
That the ink
First dripped and began to sink into the surfaces
Of your shoulder blades
And made its way
Down your spine
And in time came to raise
A depiction of two people living
Out their life’s mission
Their life’s work and vision
Wife, husband and children
All giving
Your skin purpose that permeates beyond the mere surface
And façade of the dermis.
And I came to understand and truly learn this fact
Around the same time you said you’d written a poem on my back
Down my arms and legs, across my face, chest and that
With your naked finger you’d dotted I’s and crossed T’s
And through time and danger I’ve rebuked lies and crossed seas
To find myself on your shore
Staring at a picture on your back
Drawn for sure by the gods
Of the future, present and past
And what’s more and kind of odd
Is that as the image gets clearer
It looks less like a photograph
And more like a looking glass mirror.
There’s a picture
On the canvas of your naked back
An ever changing permanent fixture
That cannot be removed a tattoo in fact
That depicts two people in the act
Of growing old together
Through the heat and the cold
Sunny days and stormy weather
Surviving life’s days and nights
On love and just trust…
And love what I've come to know and just trust
Is that the two people in the picture
Look just like us.