You left that note for me,
a box of appreciations
from you and 500 strangers
visiting from each town with a logo’d baseball cap.
Written was the relay
of our first meeting.

Demeanors are sometimes attractions
invigorated by sudden recognition,
all in the truncated five minutes
afforded those
with employee discounts.
Depth doesn’t know
alarms or
what your neurons say
about time. You
swept your hair from your eyes
And waited for me to breathe.

What you feel,
the soft curls
behind my eyes
that pulsed in the open vein.