My Tata’s tattoo was so unique –
“A time piece”
they told him as they spread his
skin thin and
cut
it
off
his
arm
it was a v for vato
he told me
after selling me stories of
dance hall brawls
the doctor asked to keep it
as a sign of the time
and he said sure, not needing it anymore
because he
still has stories
of the night
he used a flashlight
for a headlight on the
hood of a car
on the run
from a fistfight
he holds a history
he didn’t have to extract
from another man’s arm