Two forearms with bold black geometric tribal-style bands tattooed around the wrist and forearm, one with zigzag and diamond patterns and one with dense panels of symmetrical motifs.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Black geometric bands on two forearms

Geometric · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

Two forearms are shown side by side, each wrapped with a solid band of black geometric tattoo work. The left band uses zigzags, lines and angular panels, while the right band has denser blocks of stepped shapes, triangles and symmetrical motifs. The linework is crisp and fully solid black with no greys, and the arms fill most of the frame against a dark background.

Geometric Blackwork Forearm Tribal Geometric pattern Band Zigzag Triangle Diamond

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Mrs Hartley had the third proof pinned to the back wall before I'd wiped the ink off my thumbs, and she didn't look round when she said the Saturday posters for the Majestic would not cut themselves.

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I had spent a week on the block. Every line was a V-gouge bitten into a slab of lino, and the border alone took two evenings: a zigzag that ran round the edge like a river seen from a train, then a band of stepped blocks, then triangles stacked point to point so they looked like teeth. Mrs Hartley said the old Majestic posters used to be all curlicues and sweethearts, and nobody had come through the doors for years. She wanted the thing to look like the floor itself, black and sharp, the sort of pattern you could dance on without looking down.

The trouble came on the Thursday. I had cut the whole border on the wrong side of the block, so when the paper came off the press the bands ran backwards, every zigzag pointing the way the dancers would turn to leave. I wanted to throw the lot in the bin. Mrs Hartley held one up to the bulb, turned it over, and said it was the first honest thing anyone had printed for that hall in ten years.

The ballroom sold out on the Saturday. People stood by the cloakroom tracing the bands with their fingers, reading them backwards to see if they still made sense. Mine did, I think. Mrs Hartley kept the spoiled sheet on her desk, and when anyone asked, she said it was the map.