200 CCs - June 2016

When You’re on Fire
by Adiba Jaigirdar
The matchsticks in the broken drawer
don’t tempt me now that you’re gone.
We sat on my bed and shared scorch
marks like stories of old boyfriends.
The one between your thumb and
forefinger? Two years ago. Darkened to
a deep shade of brown on your already
dark skin. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t
love it. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t
dream about it with my eyelids half
closed, imagining you beside me,
imagining me running my fingers along
that scorch mark.
I like the one on your right shoulder the best. It’s nothing but a giant brown blob. There’s a strange
beauty in it. Perhaps the most enticing thing about is the way you showed me, slowly rolling up the
sleeves of your overly-long, baggy t-shirt.
My scorch marks seem like nothing in comparison. Even now.
Fire has lost its delight too, since you left. Like I never understood the spark, the heat, until you
brushed your fingers along my collarbone.
Those two months, sharing stories on my bed, our limbs entangled in each other carelessly; those
were the days I was on fire.
The matches, the bedroom, the lick of fire against my skin? Nothing without you in it. No spark.
Adiba Jaigirdar is a twenty-two year old writer and poet. She is of Bangladeshi descent but
Irish by nationality. She has graduated from University College Dublin with a BA double
major in English and History, along with an MA in Postcolonial Studies from the University of
Kent. She has previously been published in literary magazines such as About Place Journal,
wordlegs and Outburst. You can find her on twitter at @adiba_j.
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