Fine line black ink tattoo of the outlines of Texas and Ohio overlapping on the inner forearm.

Texas and Ohio state outlines on a forearm

Fine line · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

A single-line outline of the US states Texas and Ohio overlaps in the centre of the image, with Ohio drawn inside the shape of Texas. The linework is thin, consistent and solid black, with no shading or fill. The tattoo sits on a pale forearm against a dark floral fabric and a blurred white sign.

Fine line Forearm Texas Map State outline

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the Pecos office has given me the long table by the window, the one the man before me used for cutting stencils, and there is a crease down the middle of it where he rested his elbows for twenty years. I have been tracing state maps for the Sunday supplement all week, and yesterday my hand slipped on the lamp chain and the pen ran straight across the border of Texas and kept going, making a little Ohio that sat inside the big one like a stone in a shoe. Mr Gaddis came over with his coffee to tell me off, then stood there a long while looking at it.

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He said the printers would never stand for it. I said nobody would see the ink under the varnish anyway. He didn't argue, which surprised me, and he went back to his desk without a word.

This morning there was a fresh sheet on my table with the lines already drawn, the same thin black, Ohio sitting within Texas exactly as I'd left it, and a note in his square capitals: KEEP THE RIVER, THE RIVER IS WHERE YOU ARE. I don't know what he meant. I think he meant the Ohio River, which runs down past your window, though I can't say he has ever been further north than Abilene.

Tell the girls I'm eating properly. I'll post the proofs when they come back from the press, and you can see for yourself, a little of home laid over the place where I am standing.