Black line drawing of a tree of life design with swirling branches, leaves and a yoga pose figure forming the trunk, on a plain white background.

Tree with yoga figure trunk

Botanical · Black and grey · Flash

A black ink design of a stylised tree whose trunk is a figure in a balancing yoga pose, one leg raised and arms extended. The branches and roots curl into spirals, with leaves scattered through the canopy and flame-like forms at the base. It is drawn in solid black on white with no shading or colour.

Botanical Tree Figure Swirl Leaves Root Tree of life

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The lamp you left on the windowsill has gone out twice this week. Mam says it is the damp coming up through the flags, but I know it is the pit wanting its due. Mrs Oakes next door has put her washing out on a Tuesday, which tells you how far the strike has gone to our heads. Still, the crocuses are up under the chapel wall, so the year is turning whether the coal owners like it or not.

I have been practising the thing Miss Pryce taught at the Institute, standing on one leg with my arm stretched out like a branch. She says the body keeps its balance by finding roots, which I thought was nonsense until I tried it on the scrubbed kitchen floor with the kettle going. You wobble, you fall, you put your foot down and start again. Mam laughed till she had to sit on the stairs. Dad would have laughed too, I think.

The men are saying the new manager will open the Lower Seam by Michaelmas. I do not believe it, and I told them so at the meeting, though Mr Bell gave me a look that could have stripped paint. On Sunday I walked up the old tip with the dog. The fires are still smouldering in the cinders, little blue flames at the base of the heap that never quite go out. Dad said they were the earth remembering it had been a forest once. As a child I thought that a comfort. Now I think it is a warning.

Come home at Christmas if they let you. Bring the good tea, not the stuff from the canteen. I will stand on one leg for you in the front room, and you can tell me if I am still standing straight.

Your loving sister, Nell