Black and grey Polynesian-style tribal band with frangipani flowers and spiral motifs curving up a calf.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Polynesian band with flowers on a calf

Botanical · Calf · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo is a curving band of Polynesian-style tribal patterns with three frangipani flowers and leaves along its length. Fine black linework and solid black areas form the spirals and geometric bands, with some grey shading in the petals. The design sweeps diagonally up the leg, with the flowers spaced evenly along the band against plain skin.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Pip,

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The pressed flowers came today, folded inside a Rowntree's tin with a note that said only "Keep them for the reunion, don't you dare lose them." Three frangipani, pale as candle wax, still faintly sweet. Dad always swore the ones on Aitutaki kept their scent longer than anything else, and I see now he was right. I nearly cried at the kitchen table before I'd got my coat off.

I've been thinking about Grange Road all week. Thirty years since we left, and Mr Kettle still sends his Christmas cards. Everyone will ask what I did with myself, and I'll tell them about the sketch on the back of a chip-shop menu that Auntie Mere drew for her friend Nell. Black bands that curl and turn back on themselves like the tide working its way up the shingle, with the flowers added last, one by one, each set against the blank paper so they'd stand out. Nell had asked for them to be spaced evenly, so nothing crowded them. Mere said that was the hardest part, leaving the plain bits alone.

I haven't decided whether to go. The tin keeps moving from the windowsill to the drawer and back again. Still, the flowers are here, and the spiral is still turning, and the tide is out this evening, leaving the rock pools full of small bright things. Come with me on Saturday. Bring the bad sherry, and we'll see who still remembers the way to the old school gate.

Love, Jo

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