Source: pinterest.com “Annabel Lee” is full of haunting lines that make ideal ink. It's nice to see this poem getting some love, since far too many people are only familiar with “The Raven.”

Source: pinterest.com “Once” is the title of a poem tylerknott.com by Tyler Knot Gregson. It is small but perfect. Imagine, an entire poem on your skin.

Source: pinterest.com I'd ask you to forgive the volume of Maya Angelou inspired tattoos in this post, except I'm not sorry. Maya's “Phenomenal Woman” is a beautiful, deeply inspiring poem that first and foremost praises and uplifts women of color for the goddesses they are, but touches all women, too. It's for the fat woman, the thin girl, the depressed mother, you, me – all of us.

Source: pinterest.com I'm sharing this one because it includes more of the poem, and I love “Phenomenal Woman” so, so, so much. This is a message every woman should carry with her, even if it's not inked.

Source: marissacorine.tumblr.com “Still I Rise” is another poem that often gets turned into a tattoo. Single lines “Still I rise” and “Still I'll rise” are especially popular because they speak of – and often give – strength to survivors of all walks.

Source: acidcow.com Fans of Charles Bukowski frequently use depictions of a bluebird to reference him, but here's a literary take that's just beautiful. It's simple, yes, but that's because it lets the quote from “Bluebird” speak for itself. The birdcage is the loveliest little touch.

Source: tattoolit.com This is from A Midsummer Night's Dream, but many of Shakespeare's plays or sonnets have the potential to become stunning tattoos. You always get the classic combo of emotion, depth, and on-point rhymes.

Source: tattoolit.com Pablo Neruda knew the language of love so exquisitely, it's easy to understand the urge to ink his words upon the skin. This line – “I love you as certain dark/ things are to be loved,/ in secret, between the shadow/ and the soul” – is enough to give you chills. If you got this tattoo, whom would you have in mind?

Source: designzzz.com It's no wonder E. E. Cummings is a popular choice among lovers of ink, poetry, and literature in general. He's another poet who makes it easy to ink an entire poem – sometimes a line is all it takes. Skin is the perfect medium for Cummings because don't people tend to read your written poems out loud?

Source: pinterest.com Sylvia Plath, one of my favorite poets, wrote verses that were practically destined to become tattoos. This snippet from “Mad Girl's Love Song” is an excellent example of why.

Source: sylviaplathink.tumblr.com Here's another version with a few more lines, just because. Everyone needs more Sylvia in their lives.

Source: becauseilive.hubpages.com “Love is the whole and more than all.” Cummings comes correct again. That's not a bad philosophy to live by, really.

Source: vagabomb.com Say what you will about Ginsberg's doings, he was a warrior with his pen. “Howl” is full of quotable lines, although this is among the most iconic – and the most popularly inked.

Source: pinterest.com Having a tattoo from “The Hollow Men” myself and adoring T. S. Eliot beyond all measure as I do, I had to enjoy some ink featuring his untouchable work. Here's a frankly stunning tattoo with lines from “The Waste Land” that I kind of want to copy. That placement, at the very least. Wow. When poetry touches you, it touches you deeply. That's true of all literature, but poetry says so much in such small spaces. Has a poem ever got to you so much that you turned it into a tattoo?