Tattoo Haiku, what’s that? Sounds like the name of a supermodel, or perhaps an anime heroine, or maybe even a sumo wrestler. Actually, it’s a contest, right here at Mormanity. As you all know, one of the top 6,458 problems facing young people today is tattoos and body piercing. OK, so maybe you think it’s not the most serious issue, but it’s one of the longest lasting and most visible ones. Some are very interesting and attractive, IMO, but usually much less so after 20 or 30 years. The Church encourages people to not pursue that route. There are good reasons for this. If nothing else, once regret settles in--perhaps Roxanne is no longer your true love, or maybe a giggling Chinese friend explains that your cool Asian tattoo doesn’t really mean “courage”--it’s not easy to fix. So let’s help raise awareness about the risks of adding a permanent fashion accessory that only fades with time.

Tattoo Haiku: yes, it’s a contest. Submit a haiku to raise awareness about tattoos, such as the challenges of getting a tattoo, or lots of tattoos. It can be about the pains of a tattoo gone bad, including the memory of love gone bad, spelling gone bad, whatever. Or it can be about our need to not be judgmental about tattoos, too, since a lot of great people get them. But we’re mostly focused here on helping young people prepare for the inevitable temptation to emblazon Lady Gaga across their lower lumbar region.

The winner will get some minor prize–either a silver half-dollar or a free copy of my internationally recognized book (I sent a copy to somebody in Canada, hence international–and he says he’d recognize it if he saw it again). If you choose the book, it will be personally signed, unless I really, really like the winning haiku, in which case the book will be unsigned: that makes it easier to resell at Amazon, according to my friend in Canada.

To get you started, here’s my own entry (though the rules of this contest excluded family members, clones of me, and me personally):

Fashion access’ry
With color always fading,
No updating: tattoo.

Contest ends at midnight on Oct. 31 (yes, Halloween, also known as "Bring Out Your Dead" day, just in time for the election).

Update: OK, to simplify life, I'm extending the deadline to midnight, Nov. 2, the same day as the election so that--speaking of deadlines--you can leave the voting queue and still have time to submit a haiku. Just like in the election, anyone can participate--you don't need to be a US citizen or even alive, and you can enter as often as you like. (At least that's the Milwaukee way, where they've had major elections with thousands more votes cast than there were registered voters.)
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