Black compass rose with an arrow and dotted ring tattooed on a forearm, in a geometric and dotwork style.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Compass rose and arrow on a forearm

Dotwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A compass rose with a star-shaped centre sits inside a dotted circle, with an arrow extending to the upper left. The linework is bold and solid, with small dots scattered around the ring and the arrow. The ink is a single dark blue-black tone, shown in a close crop of the forearm.

Dotwork Geometric Forearm Compass Compass rose Arrow Dot Star

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Danny, the lift in Ashworth Point has been out since Tuesday, so I've been taking the stairs with the shopping and counting landings the way you used to count the dots on your road atlas. Mrs Okafor on nine says the council will fix it when they've finished pretending the damp isn't there, which means never. Ask me how I am and I'll say I'm fine, but I'm sixty-eight and my knees have opinions.

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I found Grandad's compass in the bottom drawer under the tea towels, the brass one with the star in the middle and the ring of tiny dots worn almost smooth. The needle has gone lazy. Every time I open the lid it swings and settles on north-west, and the arrow engraved on the case keeps pointing up and left, past the window, towards the motorway and the hills you always said you'd climb. I sat on the kitchen step with it for an hour, turning it in my palm like a worry bead.

Here is what I worked out, and you'll laugh. The needle isn't broken. The arrow was never meant for north. Grandad set it to the way out, the way he carried us from the terraces to this estate, and he never told anyone which way that was. I think he wanted us to choose our own.

So I've put the compass on the windowsill facing the car park, where the lamps come on at dusk. When you ring on Sunday, tell me which way you're heading and I'll turn the arrow to match. Love, Mum.