Amy Baskin
That Dragon T-Shirt
(Quatern)
That dragon t-shirt full of holes
stained brown, threadbare, stays in her drawer
until school picture day comes 'round.
She shimmies into it each year.
From third grade on she's worn that shirt,
that dragon t-shirt full of holes.
The plastic decal snake with wings
ties her to her first love-Tolkien.
Her brother owned it once as well.
He wore it when they made s'mores.
That dragon t-shirt full of holes
no longer fits. He passed it on.
She guards that garment with her life
like Smaug atop his pile of gold.
An amulet to combat change,
that dragon t-shirt full of holes.
Bio
My work is currently featured in Panoply, NonBinary Review, Sein Und Werden, The Gorge Journal, Rat's Ass Review, Random Poem Tree, Mothers Always Write, and is forthcoming in Dirty Chai and Delirious: A Prince Tribute Anthology. I've had the pleasure of working on the revision process with Oregon's former poet laureate Paulann Petersen, and participating in online generative groups hosted by Allison Joseph and Jenn Givhan.