Enlarged with AI from a smaller original
Polynesian tribal flash sheet with turtle and ray
Black and grey · Flash
A hand-drawn flash sheet on white paper showing several tribal-style designs in black ink. The largest subject is a sea turtle at the bottom, with a circular swirl motif at the top right, and smaller manta ray and fish-like shapes on the left. The linework is bold with areas filled by dense hatching and dotwork, and the designs are spaced apart with no body placement shown.
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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction
Tomas, the turtle came up under the slipway again this morning, the old one with the cracked shell, and Mum swore she had seen her at the mouth of the bay when we were small. Dad says turtles keep track of nothing but the tide, but he said the same about the weather and he was wrong about that too.
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The big ray has been working the channel for a week, flat as a bedsheet and nearly as wide. Mrs Ioane's boy took the skiff out to look and came back white as paper, saying the ray had rolled under the hull and left rings on the water like someone had stirred it with a comb. I told him it was the rain. He didn't argue, which is how I knew it wasn't.
Sione's cousin has carved a spiral onto the gunwale of the new boat, the one you helped haul off the sand before you left. He says the curls are for keeping the sea in a good mood, and I have not had the heart to tell him the sea does not read. I have asked him to paint the ray above the shed door so you can spot it from the road when the ship turns in.
The agent says your berth is confirmed for the autumn run. Come home before the turtles lay, or we will have to dig the eggs out ourselves and pretend we were not waiting. Your sister, Sina.
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