Asphalt Story #84

Similarities I, by Adeel uz Zafar

In the back room of a bar
we made a deal:
your scars for my love,
the only things we had left
to barter with.

You sold your soul last week
for a pocket watch and
a faded photograph of a blue sky.
I lost mine some time ago,
like a dream I forgot in the morning
and didn’t know to miss.

Under the flickering lights,
we made a deal:
I pulled out my knives
and you pulled off your shirt.
We spread our wares on
the dirty table and got down
to the business of love,
the kind that required no soul
from either of us.

Strangers watched on,
making bets in our favour,
and drinking the last of the rain.
For a moment
tomorrow felt like
yesterday.

We made a deal:
your needs for my dreams,
the ones I’d forgotten about.
In the back room of a bar,
we flickered and faded
and spread our love
like dirty rain.
~ Kat Soini

Kat Soini is a Finn living in the UK, trying to keep a foot in each country but falling somewhere in between. An over-educated academic by day, she’s been writing fiction and poetry for a long time and is finally getting organised enough to actually put it out there for strangers to read.