a brief footnote.

AHHH I love your poetry!

It was really fitting to me how there weren't any line breaks, which I know is not done in every one of your poems, yet it never seems to be "too much" for the reader. This read like a tender tribute to Sarah, and I could not help but smile with the mention of writing on the napkin, then saying she was tucking IN between the pages.

I tried to pen down all my thoughts, because it wasn't just one singular thought that I had while reading. So my thoughts may come across as quite jumbled! At first, I assumed this piece would be about her leaving notes for you to discover, sort of like courting you, then I saw it as more of a stranger coming across her notes and learning about her this way. In a small way, not by the specifics of what she wrote, but how she signed it. Which, to be honest, a signature can be interrupted by some people to reflect on personality. How she left a "trail", and whether to be discovered or not, you found traces of her in these places. The book part made me think of seeing what someone is like based on what they read. I've found notes in library books before, and once, I found someone's thoughts written like a diary page. I've found checklists and even grocery lists. Something about it is so alluring.

This whole poem had some mystery and just made me think, in general, of leaving some kind of "footprint" (or I should say "footnote"), to be seen or heard or way to be inferred.

I have to keep re-reading the "stars aligned, but our watches weren’t." line, as this made me think of the belief in fate, in not always interfering and controlling time and our own whereabouts, but leaving it up to the universe.

Also! The respect and almost reverence for Sarah, in that you left the rest of the note untouched. Almost as if you knew it would be invading her privacy, though she left it there, and you chose to honor her instead of giving into curiosity? I keep going back to the mention of the third time being unintentional, and there's such a story in this poem, it fascinates me! You've given Sarah life, even though we don't have too many descriptions, it's less about the content of the notes and more about the way and manner in which they are left. I find it funny that, as you suggest, something so obvious can still be unseen and completely glossed over by the general public.

One quick thing:
"the first time i’ve seen you was in"
^ Should this be "I'd" or "the first time I saw you..."

I seriously enjoyed this. It felt fresh. I assumed it would be a love poem, and I still see it as one, but in a different light than I expected. It felt more personal, coming across someone signing their name, seeing these notes, and wondering the reasons and that it's not specifically about the words or who it involved, but her meaning and intention, even in two simple words.