Black typewriter-style scripture lettering with a red wash behind it, tattooed on an upper arm.

Scripture lettering on an upper arm

Lettering · Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

A block of black serif lettering on the upper arm quotes a passage from Romans, with the reference printed small at the bottom. Crisp black linework forms the words, with varied sizes for emphasis on words such as DEATH, LIFE and LORD. A soft red wash sits behind the text on the left, adding a single area of colour against the black ink.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nan, the cook on the Marigold keeps a typewriter in the wheelhouse for the log, and I borrowed it tonight because my hand shakes too much for a pen. We lost the Marigold's second boat in the squall off Dogger on Tuesday, so you'll have heard by now. Her crew were brothers from Cleethorpes. I helped carry the younger one up the ladder, and I am writing this so the thing is down on paper and not only in my head.

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Skipper read the committal at dawn, and he didn't use the book. He said it from memory with the wind taking half the words off his mouth. Afterwards Dennis Moat, who has never once in twelve years said a word to me that wasn't about the catch, came and stood beside me at the rail and asked if I had the words for anything. I said I had a line from Paul's letter that Mum used to pin to the fridge calendar. He asked me to say it. So I did, and he nodded like a man checking a net for holes.

We are back on the grounds now. The sea is flat as a plate and the gulls are fighting over offal as if nothing happened. I keep turning the line over: neither death nor life, nor height nor depth, nothing can separate us from the love of God. I don't believe it the way you do. But I know nothing on this boat could cut the rope that tied those two brothers to their mother, and I hope that counts for something.

Come down to the quay Saturday if the weather lets us in. Bring the brown teapot.

Love, Tom

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