A TAg is the term used by Graffiti artists to identify their work. They are known as "Taggers."
TAGS
© 2009 by David Wainland
Destruction
Ripples of color spread
Endemic as a virus
Across buildings
Walls, signs, placards
Overpasses, abutments
Phone booths, mailboxes
Zigzags, curves, angles,
Scribbled, brushed, sprayed
Attribution
Letters, symbols, names
Zak, Kaws, Bes, Claw
Kat, Rap, Den
Meaningful
Meaningless
Not Dali,
Picasso,
Or even Warhol
Motivation
Saying nothing
Said something
Redemption
Rebellion
Salvation
Graffiti
Art
Tags
Liberation
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 27
I love graffiti, some of the most artistic work I've ever seen. The show Sunday Morning recently did a segment about it.
Funny, I wrote this in New York and then came back to Jersey and saw the the show. I guess that is waht you call Kismet.
A lot of this senseless looking mumble has meaning to those doing it. It shows boundary lines and who's who.
In Yakima their is a police officer trained to read the symbols
Interesting.
Love the format and flow of this, but I don't like graffiti when it's on our school. Thank you for posting to our group.
Fascinating.
Here the tag is DAZE and it's on every over pass between here and Walker County..nicely written
Cool
We don't have a big problem here but Yakima has a program for removing it as fast as the kids tag stuff.
Cool poem David
You've captured the caligraphic soul of graffiti and emblazoned it through your poetic~
Thank you for posting to GutterGirls~featured
There's no ambiguity about your point of view and that's to the poem's credit - it is clear and accessible to the reader. Thanks for sharing with The Poet's Circle!
Nice piece - I love the topic and the poem. We don't have much grafitti here in Flat...
It's a real grafiti style poem, thanks David.
Love the style and flow of this poem.
Saying nothing
Said something
I'll say.
Listen to Paul Simon's "Pem On an Underground Wall" for recent history.
Wonderful poems!
Very good work, David. I think you captured the spirit of it and the thoughts of views very well. I consider graffitti art but do wish it was not splashed all over the neighborhood. Many of the kids are budding artists with no place to go with their talent. They should be coaxed onto canvas and shown in real exhibits, encouraged and nurtured as all artists should be. Interesting that adult artists can drape yellow cloth all over New York and be celebrated, but graffitti artists are arrested. We just need to learn to value creativity and channel it, rather than always trying to stamp it out. Our Puritan roots are showing. (smile)
Whether mind-blowing art or frustrated scribbles, there are messages in graffiti.
Wonderful poem, David! And the picture you included is perfect!
Yes, they are a form of self-expression, for sure.
Wonderful poem, David. I love the way you've laid it out. I've discovered New York has some very interesting graffiti.
cute
What a cool poem!
Thanks Comments
Myspace Comments
for posting to my group, Anythingwriting
the style and the way it flowed is ART it'self, David. I remember my brother getting such a whipping for drawing on the wall when he was 11, but it was such a neat scene of working boats coming in to dock, and a sailboat full of folk out for pleasure. I would have given him a blue ribbon if I could have.
Took me back to Manchester. Very nice.
I am so amazed.you're xtremly talented.