Black linework tattoo of a leafy tree whose trunk forms two legs and feet, on the upper back beside the shoulder blade.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Tree with legs on upper back

Back · Black and grey · Photo

A large black linework tattoo on a person's upper back shows a tree with a dense, outlined canopy of leaves at the top. The trunk splits into two thin legs ending in feet at the bottom, with a small dark bird or figure near the base. The ink is black with no shading or colour, and the tattoo fills most of the frame against plain skin.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

You have been standing on the far platform at Hollin Cross since the early shift, and the tree has not moved in all that time, which is how you know it means to leave. Its roots are still in the gravel between the rails, pulled up like a stocking half off. The canopy is heavy with leaves, each one drawn separately, as if whoever made them had patience to spare. Beneath it a small bird keeps hopping in and out of the shade of the tree's own feet.

Keep reading

The stationmaster, Mr Abernethy, says trees do not take the 7.40 to Carlisle. You tell him it bought a ticket already, folded into the knot of its trunk, and that it only needs a carriage with a door wide enough for branches. He laughs, then stops laughing when the tree lifts one foot and sets it down on the departures board, leaving a clean print in the wet paint.

The bird flies up to the signal gantry and sings the whistle note the old driver used to sing. Nobody is surprised except the tea trolley woman, who drops two scones and does not pick them up.

The 7.40 arrives twelve minutes late, as it always does. The tree walks on board with its leaves brushing the windows, the bird riding under its crown like a lantern. You watch until the last carriage clears the bend and there is only one scone left on the platform, very small and very brown, with the rain starting again over the rails.

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From the plentytattoo archive, uploaded by a user. Is this your work? Ask for credit or removal.