Backseat Tackle Box

Old photos in the glovebox

You laughing in that faded cap

Backseat full of tangled lines

Sunburned shoulders

Soda caps

You'd say

"One more cast"

Even when the sky went black

I learned patience from that silence

Sitting by your side like that

I miss you

Dad

Out on that water

Every ripple calling your name

Just your little girl

Your stubborn daughter

Still saving you the front boat seat in my brain

If heaven's got a quiet corner

With a pier and a borrowed dock

Hope you're out there

Hope you're waiting

For your girl and the backseat tackle box

I drive past that gravel road

Where you taught me how to tie that knot

Truck still smells like coffee cups

And the cheap cologne you always bought

I talk to you at red lights

Like you're riding shotgun here

Ask you what you'd think of him

If you'd like my life this year

I miss you

Dad

Out on that water

Every ripple calling your name

Just your little girl

Your stubborn daughter

Still saving you the front boat seat in my brain

If heaven's got a quiet corner

With a pier and a borrowed dock

Hope you're out there

Hope you're waiting

For your girl and the backseat tackle box

One day I'll pull up

To that old wooden pier

Drop my worries in the deep

You'll say

"Hop in

I'm right here"

We won't need many words

Just the air and the sky

You teaching me again

How to loosen my line

I miss you

Dad

Out on that water

Every ripple calling your name

Just your little girl

Your stubborn daughter

Still saving you the front boat seat in my brain

If heaven's got a quiet corner

With a pier and a borrowed dock

I'll run to you

I'll come crashing

Your girl and that backseat tackle box