Traditional style tattoo of a black-outlined banner reading RISE ABOVE over four tan upright sticks with red accents, on a forearm.

Rise Above banner and four sticks on a forearm

Traditional · Forearm · Mixed · Photo

The tattoo shows a grey banner with the words RISE ABOVE in red capitals, laid across four upright tan sticks with dark shaded bands and red accents near their tops. Bold black outlines and flat areas of colour give it a classic, hand-poked look. The design sits centrally in the frame on pale skin, with a small part of another tattoo visible at the top edge.

Traditional Forearm Banner Lettering

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Tuesday, 14 March. Mr Haddow says the shop goes under if the Easter order doesn't clear, so I've been sent to the back to sand the last of the ash blanks. Four hundred pairs, every one turned on the lathe by Dennis before his hands went. The docket says three hundred and eighty, which means I counted them twice this morning and got it wrong both times, or Dennis did.

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Wednesday. Found a biscuit tin under the bench with his handwriting on the lid: For the lads at St Aidan's, if they ask. Inside, four sticks wrapped in a page of the Gazette, tips dipped in red paint and gone soft at the grip. There was a strip of old calico folded beside them, lettered in fat black capitals I didn't expect. RISE ABOVE. I asked Mr Haddow what it meant. He said it was what the band used to shout when the rain came down on the Thursday parade, and then he went quiet and walked out to the van.

Thursday. Took the tin to the church hall. The band was short two drummers and the bass was thumping flat. I gave the sticks to the youngest lad, Owen, who looked at the calico like it might bite him. We played the old march through twice. On the second pass the rain started drumming on the skylight, and the lads, not knowing why, lifted their sticks higher and kept time. The banner went up on the hall's back wall with two drawing pins.

Friday. Owen came into the shop with his palms blistered and asked if he could keep the sticks. I told him they weren't mine to give. Then I went back to the bench, sanded the last blank smooth, and hung a fresh pair on the nail above the door, red tips up, where the streetlight could catch them.