Close-up of a black tribal swirl tattoo on the side of a tanned hip, with a white plumeria flower tucked into a blue floral bikini tie.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Tribal swirl tattoo on a hip

Blackwork · Other · Black and grey · Photo

The photograph shows a tattoo of a bold black tribal design with swirling curves and tapering spirals on the side of the hip, running down toward the waistband of a blue and white floral bikini. A white plumeria flower with a yellow centre is tucked into the bikini tie, and a thin white bracelet is visible on the wrist. The lines are solid black ink with smooth, even edges, and the image uses a soft, warm skin tone against a blurred green background.

Blackwork Other Tribal Swirl Plumeria Flower Bikini Bracelet

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Tom,

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The glass came down again last night and I sat up with the lamp until the wick guttered at four. You will think me daft for writing, but the post boat is due Thursday and I want you to have the thing I found on the landing before the gulls got at it. It was a plumeria, pale as candle wax with a yellow heart, lying on the step where the rain had left it. Mrs Pengelly swears it blew across from the Indiamen anchored off the Sound, but nothing grows like that on this rock.

I have been thinking about the swirl Captain Vosper's cabin boy inked on the back of the lamp-room door before he went off to sea. Black, all curls and tapering tails, like the tide race off the Mare when it turns against the wind. He said his grandmother's people cut the same shape into canoes. I told him that was a fine lie for a boy of fourteen. He only laughed and said the sea doesn't mind where a line comes from so long as it keeps moving.

Tell me the sea is kind to you. The new hand on the Seaflower is nothing like you, but I am glad someone is taking the watch when you are below. Light the lamp at dusk, check the wick at midnight, and keep that flower dry if it comes your way.

Your loving mother, Nell