Black and grey realism tattoo of a leaning palm tree over a shoreline on the upper back shoulder, with a crown tattoo partly visible at the top right.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Palm tree and beach scene on a shoulder

Realism · Shoulder · Black and grey · Photo

A large black and grey tattoo of a palm tree leaning over a calm shoreline, with distant low huts or buildings on the horizon. The palm fronds and trunk are rendered with soft shading and fine detail, while the sky and sea fade into light grey washes. A partial crown tattoo appears at the top right edge of the frame.

Realism Shoulder Back Palm tree Beach Sea Sky Crown

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tomasz,

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The palm is still leaning over the wall at Saltmarrow, the way Dad always said it would fall the day the tide came up the steps. It hasn't fallen. It has got thinner, and the fronds that are left have gone the colour of old newsprint, but when the wind comes off the grey water they still lift and turn as if they're trying to look at something behind us.

I walked the old promenade on Tuesday with the salvage crew from Hollin. They are digging the huts out of the silt, the ones on stilts past the groyne, and they found a tin of Sunday coins and a bicycle bell that still rang when someone flicked it. Mrs Achterberg's hut is intact. Her hammock hooks are still screwed into the posts. Nobody has asked me to take anything, and I haven't decided what I would.

The crew captain, a quiet man called Eli Vance, asked whether we should cut the palm down before it leans far enough to take the last of the hut roofs with it. He said the council would want the timber for the sea wall. I told him the wall could have the bricks and the palm could stay where it was.

I am writing this on the back of the tide tables because the paper ran out last week. When the boat comes on Thursday I will ask them to carry the letter across. You won't remember the way the light goes orange behind the fronds in August, but I do, and I'll keep watching it until you come back. The palm was always the stubborn one.

Yours in salt and sun, Ruth