Glenn G. Coats

The Bait Keeper’s Daughter

In summer,
she dangled her legs
over the transom
and shaved them
in the lake,
dipped them in and out
like candles
to remove the soap,

immersed her hands
up to the wrists,
swayed them
like plants—
then ran her fingers
through her hair,
pulled it straight back
and tucked
behind her ears,

she is gone now,

and fishermen nudge
their boats
close to where
she once gathered stones
along
the shoreline,
where torn screens
flap
like waves.

moonlit skiff
the way her shoulders
light the crossing

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About the Author

Glenn G. Coats lives with his wife, Joani, in Carolina Shores, North Carolina. His books include two Snapshot Press collections of haibun, A Synonym for Gone (2021) and Degrees of Acquaintance (2019); Furrows of Snow (Turtle Light Press, 2019), an honorable mention winner in the Haiku Society of America’s 2020 Merit Book Awards; and Another Lost Boat (Pineola Publishing, 2022).

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