A Friend

Contributor: Leeann Sheu

- -
I am the jacket I’ve worn since 6th grade.
It has grown faded from use,
but still remains
comfortable and warm.
The hood doesn’t drape
over my eyes anymore,
but the sleeves still hang
past my fingers,
stray threads dangling
and pockets widely gaping.

My brother and I convinced Mother
we needed these,
matching hoodies with our elementary school’s name and a tiger
embroidered on the front.
“These better be worth it,” Mother complained,
“You both better wear these.”
The zippers now get stuck,
and stains eat at our sleeves,
but we wear them.

My brother stole my jacket once
after letting his soak in the sun
a moment too long,
ashamed of wearing the yellow
of green cotton bleeding.


- - -
Leeann Sheu is a writer with a fondness for dragons and other things green. In her spare time, she draws and toys with programming. Despite also liking music and having over 2000 mp3 files stored in her laptop, she has no musical talent.