If I Had A Tattoo It Would Be by Claire Collison

If I had a tattoo it would be a mistake. Not swallows diving from throat to collar bone. Not a bleary '24' in the bay of thumb and finger. Not the Calvary peeping like a page torn from the Childrens' Illustrated Bible stuffed inside my shirt. What can I say? I save drafts, I book open returns. If I love or hate, I don't make a song and dance about it. I see those confident doodles on supple young skin as if on time lapse; fading under folds and flaps, buried under wiry grey, inappropriate. Reckless.
Across the table she nods. Smiles. Motions to the waiter for the bill. Under her high-necked blouse, not an inch left to freckle or blush.