Glenn G. Coats

One Long Chain

My father
handed me a dime
and asked,
“What’s your favorite
number?”
Then he told me
to put my coin
on that box;
and when the wheel
stopped spinning,
it stopped
on the seven
and the man said,
“Pick anything
you want.”

My father wondered
if I needed help
carrying the clock
that looked like
a pocket watch
down
along
the boardwalk;
strangers asked
why
I chose that prize
instead
of a fishing pole.

My father inquired
years later
about the clock
that hung
for the longest time
above the TV
in the family room
where it shown
like the moon
over
everything we did
and didn’t do
until I moved on
and the clock got lost
along the way.

almost dark
the baseball carries me
back to the woods

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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, 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 A Lantern on the Bridge (Pineola Publishing, 2025).

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