The lines on the first post-it were oversized, playful remnants of a time when the office joked about how the rain couldn’t last forever. Oh, how cheerful and naïve we had been. Only ten days, two neat sets of five, adorned the first pink square.

The last time you held my hand

to cross the road, I knew 

you would never hold it again,

I’d have to go it alone.

for trees they are formidable / thus the name / giants as if
they’re mythic / as if they know something we don’t / when we start

through the eerie tunnel it’s still early / foggy / Hanne asks me
to put on spooky music / says she feels like we’re trespassing

She tells me Justin had good jokes,
good manners, was a card shark
and a militant Baptist. They broke up
because she always burst into giggles

the springsign of today is a lie
we will ourselves believe
this mountain ruse
of air & hope