Fine line black tattoo of a vertical chain of loops, circles and crosses running down the centre of a person's back.

Vertical loop motif running down the spine

Fine line · Back · Black and grey · Photo

A single column of abstract loops, circles, short crossing strokes and small dots runs from the upper back down the spine. The linework is thin and uniform in black ink, with the shapes joined by a continuous central line. The pale skin and plain background keep the design as the sole focus of the composition.

Fine line Geometric Back Spine Loop Circle Abstract Line Symbol

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

The cord is still warm from your hands when your aunt Ruth takes the other end and asks you to count the knots aloud, because she has never trusted her own counting at weddings. You start at the top, where the first loop sits like a bead on a thread, and you say one, then the little crossed stroke that Nell's grandmother always called the bridge, then two. The linen is grey with age and handled soft as a sleeve. Every loop was tied by someone in this family who wanted to be remembered for something small and stubborn.

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The church is cold and smells of wet coats. Your cousin Col keeps tugging at his collar and asking whether the vicar has the right page. Ruth tells him to hush, and then she tells you to keep going, so you do. Past the long looping middle, where the cord bellies out and nearly tangles, you reach the place where the strokes come in threes, the years the family didn't speak. You say three, three, three, and nobody in the pews looks up, though Nell's mother's hand finds your shoulder for a moment and stays there.

When the vicar asks for the cord, you almost forget the last knot is not a knot at all. It is a dot, a small black point at the very end, and Ruth tells you the grandmother put it there on purpose, to show where the next loose end should go. You lay the cord across Nell's palm and Col's, and it lies between their hands like a thread that has been waiting for them. You say the final number quietly, and it is the first time all day the count feels finished.