One Kingdom, No Phylums

Got a new tattoo using one of those A.I. tattoo kiosks popping up everywhere.

Finally got a “One Kingdom, No Phylums”
gothic-script upper-back tattoo
at the new A.I. tattoo kiosk
in the grocery store on the other side of town.
It only took ten seconds and cost $20.

Many people bleeding in the checkout
line from their own instant tats
instilled a feeling of solidarity
in me as I scanned my beer.

But none of their tattoos were any good,
which weakened the feeling.
The opposite of solidarity, whatever that is
had been sleeping in me all week
and reawakened. I knew

I’d be bleeding the whole way back
despite the prominent signage promising
it was a new, no-bleed needle technology
that the A.I. tattoo kiosk was using.

Next time I decide to get a tattoo
it will be from a regular person.
My driver-seat upholstery is ruined.
Not a new car but I was definitely thinking
about trading it in for something newer
sometime in the next few years.

Now I won’t be able to do that
without getting it reupholstered.
Not that I couldn’t scrape together
the funds, it’s just that no body shops
anywhere near where I live even do that.

Annoyed and pissed, even though
I’ve been blessed more than most in life.
Trying to find a way to not be angry.
Beer will help when I get home.
Fortuitous that I purchased some.

Typing this at the red light at the end
of the parking lot of the grocery store
before getting back on the main road.
This light is always long as hell.