D. Savita Harris

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent tattoo, still in progress, is inspired by the dragon and phoenix tattoo on my shoulders and arms. Two half-sleeves, it continues that theme down my forearms with the dragon's scales and water on the left and phoenix's feathers and fire on the right (yet to be started). I think the reason I'm getting this tattoo is that my fascination with that theme of soulmates is not yet exhausted. I'm still exploring it in ink.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

If my ink could speak it would probably whisper the name of my unmei no hito (Japanese for "person of fate" or "person of destiny"), something like a soulmate. I think of the ink on my skin as being a bit like a talisman, a tangible charm imbued with a specific intention, which is to draw this person to me.

What would you do with the $25,000?

First, I would finish my tattoo in progress and get two more that I have in mind already. Secondly, I would quit my job and spend the next six months writing a book of essays I'd really like to publish. And finally, I'd probably spend a good portion of that money flying to Denmark to visit a man I've been dating, whom I think might just be the unmei no hito represented by my dragon tattoo. I guess if we could visit one another and get to know one another better, time would tell.