The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Kooser, Ted. "Tattoo” from Delights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press, 2004).

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

“Tattoo” is a one-stanza, fifteen-line poem published for the first time in 2004 about an older man’s tattoo that no longer represents who he is. The tattoo is described as a dripping dagger held in a fist of a shuddering heart, but it no longer has the same form. It looks more like a bruise on his “bony older shoulder” and serves as reminder of the formidable man he must have been in his youth (4). The poem highlights the futility of outwardly trying to distinguish ourselves from others in our youth because our outward appearances inevitably fade away.