I found just the act of getting a tattoo was healing. I had my first one in 2005, and I was happy that I had a positive and permanent mark on my body, after all the unwanted and negative scars and marks I've been subject to. I now have several, but I want another: the first line from the poem, 'Everyone Sang' by Siegfried Sassoon - "Suddenly everyone burst out singing, and I was filled with such delight..."
It feels like my alters coming to the fore over the last few years has formed a choir of sorts; a heaving swell of joy and recognition. I want to have that on my skin forever.