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See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Etiquette for Tattooing Thigh Bracelets (C) at the open mike Waiting 4 the Bus 9/15/14 at Jaks Tap in Chicago

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading her poem Etiquette for Tattooing Thigh Bracelets (C) at the open mike Waiting 4 the Bus 9/15/14 at Jaks Tap in Chicago

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading 1 poem and 2 pieces of prose (including this piece) at the open mike Waiting 4 the Bus 9/15/14 in Chicago (C)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers reading 1 poem and 2 pieces of prose (including this piece) at the open mike Waiting 4 the Bus 9/15/14 in Chicago (S)

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers saying her poem “Opposite” in conversation, then reading her poem “Etiquette for Tattooing Thigh “Bracelets”” (from her book “Part of My Pain”) 9/10/16 at “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (Canon Power Shot).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers saying her poem “Opposite” in conversation, then reading her poem “Etiquette for Tattooing Thigh “Bracelets”” (from her book “Part of My Pain”) 9/10/16 at “Poetry Aloud” open mic at the Georgetown Public Library (from a Sony).

Etiquette for Tattooing Thigh “Bracelets” Janet Kuypers 7/20/12 I saw a woman today who had an intricate pattern tattooed like a ring, all the way around her thigh. And it made me wonder: when she had this done at the tattoo parlour, did she lay on her back while they rested her calf in some sort of brace so they could tattoo all the way around her thigh, or did she have to stand with her feet five feet apart for the entire time, while they tattooed her thigh? And come to think of it, what do you call a thigh “bracelet”? Because your wrist gets bracelets, and they call ankle rings like that “anklets”, so can you call a thigh tattoo like that a thighlet? And speaking of, why is that circle around your wrist called a bracelet in the first place anyway? I mean, do they call it a bracelet because it binds you the way that handcuffs do, or like how a wedding ring reminds a woman that she’s forever bound to one man? I wonder if being bound to someone with a ring is like being bound to a tattoo ring on your body, but it makes me wonder: does a woman getting a thigh tattoo bracelet like that, does she lay on her back while they rest her calf in some sort of brace so they could tattoo all the way around her thigh, or does she have to stand with her feet five feet apart for the entire time, while they tattooed her thigh?

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