King Ink

'Razzle-dazzle. Nathalie. Nahui. Razzle-dazzle girls. Somehow I was certain that Nahui would have loved it if someone got a tattoo for her. Hell. she'd have given her admirer the tattoo herself. And afterward she would have reveled in licking off the blood pillled on the surface of her love's inflamed hot flesh. Tongue stained inky blue, she would have been a beautifully grotesque realization of the saying, I'll eat you alive.'

- Felicia Luna Lemus
'Like Son'

Spent a floppy hangover afternoon yesterday in my favourite tattoo parlour with a sweet friend, watching her get a large dose of fresh ink across her back and reading this book. When it was finished the excess colour glistened on her skin and I commented to her girlfriend that I always had an urge in these situations to lick the new artwork dry. This led her to some tangent about suicide by drinking ink, which seemed to me a rather romantic way to go. Then today I was watching ABC and a dance piece called Cursive II came on, and the choreographer (?) was talking about the performers movements in terms of script, and how there were 5 shades of black ink. Cixous' 'milky taste of ink'. The Birthday Party's Kink Ink:

'King Ink strolls into town
He sniffs around
King Ink kicks off his stink-boot
Sand and soot and dust and dirt and
He's much bigger than you think
King Ink'