sidewalk_notes tender_square on a square slip of white paper, written in red cursive that appears slightly shakey, a list of groceries: 1 qt milk. 1 qt choc milk. 2 qt OJ NO yogurt eggs. cottage cheese ice cream (the line of the last “e” in cheese extends further in longing and the “m” in ice cream has two dashes where the pen wanted to keep gliding but the ballpoint lost touch with the page) 211123 ... tender_square safety instructions from a pack of christmas lights, stained by leaves. guess the owners ignored part p, which was listed all in caps: “SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS.” 211128 ... tender_square an index card translucent with the wetness of melted snow, mottled with brown spots. on the front: x . 0.80 = 1950 x = 1950 / 0.8 = 1950 . 10 over 8 on the back: the entire alphabet in lowercase; the i nearly non-existent between the squish of h and j, the q capitalized, and the r possessing a giraffe’s neck. 211202 ... tender_square a crumpled yahtzee score card shared between two unnamed players, the final score tallying 261 to 217. a bisected envelope. the first half read “jean w” in neat printing, “ean” joined in a cursive necklace. the word “key” was written beneath it, underlined, in a bubbly handwriting with marker. the second half of the envelope was found steps away and read “illoughby,” the low-hanging arms of the “g” and “y” swooping like swings to soar in. 211204 ... tender_square a ten-times creased whole foods market receipt of 21 items totaling $162.91. a sampling of the cart: greek yogurt and honeycrisp apples; a christmas tree; chicken nuggets and kernel corn; omega-3 eggs and waffle mix; blue auvergne and ciliegine mozzarella; and belgian butter cookies. 211205 ... tender_square a receipt from motor city bicycle (employee working register: ben) for a banjo brothers bar top phone pack, $19.99 before taxes. (try saying banjo brothers bar top phone pack 5x fast, i dare you.) 211214 ... tender_square a cut slip of paper printed with a black and white skull, “ution” in text above it and “timate timatum” on the lines beneath. (“caution ultimate ultimatum”?) on the back, a handwritten point-form list containing the following: - internal grant (“um” written in small letters like an exponent above it) - applying for grant from ethicon for supplies - how to detail costs (and in smaller print below that line to expand on the idea) materials, shipping - CRADA walter reed asking for signatory each word is printed, but some of the letters loop like cursive; an “a” and an “l” are joined together, each letter in “how” is connected, and a couple of g’s and a y have stems that curl into generous loops. 211215 ... gja This is really good. Keep going. Im enjoying the image I have of you spying the sidewalk_notes and scooping them for posterity. 211216 ... tender_square thank you gja! feel free to add to the blathe if you find any, too. 211217 ... tender_square a grubhub delivery receipt discarded outside the destination address. the order was from new york pizza depot for two items: one 18” extra-large cheese pizza and one 2-liter bottle of root beer. (where’s my invite?) another set of folded instructions for outdoor holiday lights, this time for a strand with “continuous-on technology.” (the sheet reads like an infomercial: “continuous-on light strings are an excellent option for high roof lines, trees, poles, columns and other areas or structures that are difficult to get to or if you simply do not want the inconvenience of checking and changing bulbs for wherever you use light strings. it is that easy!”) 211217 ... tender_square a carefully scissored story from “the detroit free press” with the headline: “middle school staff member arrested, accused of leaving threatening note.” 211220 ... tender_square a piece of product cardboard insert with a lame joke printed on the back. q: “how does a popcorn dance?” a: “it body POPS!” 211229 ... tender_square a crisp, folded invoice from a veterinarian for tests and procedures performed on a feline. (it contained the name and address of the cat parent, so i pinned it to a windshield of a car i found it lying near). 211230 ... tender_square a ripped strip of lined paper, folded twice, the red margin bleeding like neon light. Inside the slip was a shape made in pencil that looked like backwards beamed eighth note, but when I turned it around, realized it was a “20,” the “2” towering over the “0.” 220106 ... tender_square a twice folded grocery list from a lined notepad. the top left corner is covered in dirt, while the other quadrants remain clean; the bottom right corner has a faint mirror image of the blue ink that rubbed through when the paper got wet. each item is written in neat, compact blue printing, all lowercase letters: milk bananas shampoo brown sugar salad salad dressing berries chicken 2# diced tom 14 oz bell pepper x3 onion x2 garlic honey tortilla avocado tomato jalapeno cheese lime juice green beans parm lemon lime pine nuts * a red gift card envelope swirled with white ribbons and stars, the name “raven” written and “from grandma + grandpa” on one side. on the other, a gift tag showing a bear dressed in a sweater and scarf holding a candy cane that reads “to lisa” and “from dad + ellen.” 220110 ... tender_square written on the graph paper from a page-a-day calendar in black marker, p̶u̶m̶p̶k̶i̶n̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ then the word ME in caps on the left, with mug tin book indented in a center list after it, followed by p̶u̶n̶k̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶l̶o̶r̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶m̶i̶n̶g̶o̶ ̶p̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶m̶i̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶d̶ the back of the note has the entry for monday, january 24, 2022, which reads “getting back into the swing of things can be taxing, so i like to start the week off as serenely as possible. today’s self-love action: how can i create a serene energy inside me today? i might put on some feel-good tunes or remind myself of something i’m happy about, or stop to have a chat with a loved one or coworker.” 220206 ... tender_square from february 3, a crumpled meijer receipt for coca cola, wonderful pistachios without shells (marked as “wfl no shell” by the register), and checklane candy, two of something for 99 cents each. cash tender of $10 with change of $2.34. 220210 ... tender_square a discarded holiday card from matt, liz, and ian saying “cheers to the new year.” in the three snapshots, ian and liz are holding baby ian while they are dressed in the same reindeer-print pajamas, baby ian grins from a car seat with saucer-wide eyes, and finally, ian and liz in bathing suits on a white sand shore near sunset. ian holds a giggling baby ian upside down from his leg, while liz holds a plush bear the same way. a valentines card that reads, “happy valentine’s day, friend!” with a racoon in an argyle sweater vest, dress slacks, and tie standing in a field. there’s no name listed in the “to” area, but it’s from “amelin” (the ‘e’ and the ‘i’ are so slight and compressed they are uncertain). 220303 ... tender_square *unintentional hilarious typos. baby ian cannot hold himself! "matt and liz hold baby ian" and "matt holds a giggling baby ian." 220303 ... raze a filthy post-it note folded in on itself three times and then halved. "40.35" written in blue ballpoint pen, with the last number's sleeping line cleaved in two, its long dash stabbing into the abstracted smear of dirt. a record of the time it took to cover the distance between two fixed points on the map of the day, or a coded message from one soulful machine to another. 220306 ... tender_square a penciled point-form note on a yellow post-it: - updating documentation (year long - sites) - DEI goal - update gobdesep, pt [illegible] n - consider committee work or conference the word "conference" is so shapely and without definition that it appears as a series of waves. 220317 ... raze two soaking wet purple post-it notes, one on top of the other. on the first adhesive square: "sort horse stuff". on the second: "bank". not lists, but curt directives. neat printing with no discernible personality, rendered with a fine-tip felt marker. blue ink darkened by rain into another shade of purple. 220320 ... tender_square a halved index card without anything handwritten on it. i spotted it in its full form a week ago, turned it over with my shoe to see if was worth taking, and left it behind. the words imprinted now are not ones i can read with my eyes, only feel with my hands. dirt and the impressions of pockmarked sidewalk slabs have turned it to accidental braille: “you are at your most whole when diminished by darkness.” 220328 ... tender_square a white post-it folded in uneven diagonals. the lettering in black ink is bold; the ball-point pen evenly pressed to make each self-assured letter. the a’s are fat and slant, their bulbous bellies unbuckled. the note reads: “fax lease pay off to 734.434.2288 attn: jacob” 220329 ... tender_square a rectangular paper torn from a free notepad given-as-gift by habitat for humanity, the top quarter blooming with quiescent tulips and hyacinths, the remainder bearing the items for a grocery run. the cursive is hurried, an energy made possible by the glide of black-gel ink, loosening into illegibility: “white rice s̶a̶r̶a̶n̶ w̶r̶a̶p̶ sweet potatoes grapes soap beano ketotifen honey bandaid” [looks like “13kix4” after] and at the top right corner, written as an afterthought: “sea salt” a phone number is scrawled on a haphazard diagonal: “434-9087” on the back of the paper, more items are listed in two separate lists, contained in the dimensions of the folds, the letters tighter curls of consistency: “rice cakes cheese frozen peppers water walnuts [looks like “bureaucracy” but that can’t be right] grapes?” “olive oil balsamic v. sea salt” 220421 ... tender_square an ink drawing on a piece of lined notebook paper. it looks like pikachu wearing sunglasses, and cow print board shorts while he catches a wave in the middle of the page. to his right, the nose of a great white bobs. behind him and to his left, a shark arcs out of the water and eats an alarmed seagull. a distressed dolphin swims away from the macabre scene, toward a sunset of scribbles. 220424 ... tender_square written on a poinsettia-emblazoned sheet torn from a st. jude children’s research hospital notepad, the number for the booking phone of the washtenaw county sheriff’s office. inside a hand-drawn box the words “9:00 am 4-29 officer jamonski 8#” in a shaky but loose ballpoint scrawl that looks as though it belongs to an elderly person. 220502 ... tender_square a blown-away blue post-it bore the words “FREE (broken bookcase)” in tidy blue marker, the o’s in ‘book’ like a pair of surprised eyes, the two k’s acting as protective awnings over the other letters. the offered sidewalk_furniture was nowhere to be found. 220521 ... tender_square a folded slip of white sheet with the mechanized print of a one-dimensional present. “a gift for you, ” it said. “enjoy your 3 set PRE-assembled floating bathroom ! from destra ecommerce.” the street was empty; had the three-piece bathroom feather-floated right on by its intended recipient? 220522 ... tender_square "KEY!" written in skeletal caps, blue ink tattooed to a post-it the colour of a robin's egg. it was found by the entrance to a construction site for a condo that has yet to be excavated. 220526 ... tender_square a torn scrap of lined sheet, a square no bigger than my palm, soggy against the dirt in county farm park. the writing on both sides has bled into the other, in swirls of black, translucent lace, the style executed by two different hands. on the first side, a vertical line that runs the length of the tear. then, a list in hurried print, where letters leave trails beyond the confines of their construction, where the circles of o’s are partially open and ready for filling: r̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ foil B̶l̶u̶e̶b̶e̶r̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ (the strikethrough is a squiggle) Dish soap TOMATO on the second side, in print that flirts with cursive connectivity: Plumbers tape Silicon grease cup hooks 220531 ... tender_square on oxford street in ypsi, instead of a little_free_library there was a wooden post with a small box and tattooed into the grains was “leave a poem, take a poem.” i didn’t have a poem with me to leave, but i want to write one and exchange it for the poem i gladly took. i selected one of two white envelopes. in red liquid pen the words “open and closed space” were written in print, but d’s were curved like cursive l’s, creating new closed loops that weren’t there before. inside, a blue sheet bore a poem of the same name, written by tomas tranströmer: with his work, as with a glove, a man feels the universe. / at noon he rests a while, and lays the gloves aside on a shelf. / there they suddenly start growing, grow huge / and make the whole house dark from inside. // the darkened house is out in the april winds. / “amnesty,” the grass whispers, “amnesty.” / a boy runs along with an invisible string that goes right up to the sky. / there his wild dream of the future flies like a kite, bigger than his town. // farther to the north, you see from a hill the blue matting of fir trees / on which the shadows of the clouds / do not move. / no, they are moving. 220612 ... tender_square on a rectangular post-it the colour of pissed-on snow, an intention penned in shaky script: “keep for rick.” 220614 ... raze a pink post-it note with "bring to rehearsal" printed in big block letters by a hand wielding a black sharpie. whatever piece of equipment the reminder was once attached to was long gone. 220623 ... tender_square in the black pastel of a child’s handwriting, “day camp here.” The first two words look scrunched together to make one, and the third is smaller beneath them, the scribbled ‘r’ looks like a stick figure of an old man limping. in pencil, four figures are drawn with circle for bodies and sticks with dots for arms and legs, faces smiling, bodies coloured in with a different shade (red, blue, green, yellow). the first body stands inside the capital d, the second raises his arms to support the y and c, and the last two enter the bottom frame from the left, running towards a rainbow in the opposite corner. three arrows point downward, in red, in green, and in black with a rainbow point. 220730 ... raze a grocery list dimpled with shoe dirt. on the front, most of the headings are computer-generated, with what's written beneath them inked by hand in black ballpoint pen. a few key words are blue. the combination of printing, all-caps, and cursive is idiosyncratic enough to be all but illegible in a few places. there are nine categories split into two groups. in the first row: "produce (bananas avocado) bakery (wwww wraps wwww muffins) deli/meat (turkey sausage chicken thighs chicken broast)" then the word "turk" is crossed out. "chicken" is written beside it, chased by a word i can't discern. the "organic" heading has nothing written below it. second row: "dairy (buttermilk feta) misc. (crackers [2] bubi [2] vim cleaner" the "beverage", "frozen", and "personal" headings are bereft of any notations. there's an additional handwritten entry in the top right corner for "costco": "eggs x 2 (illegible) wipes oj pretzels turkey breast? bacon" on the back of the page is a handwritten calendar that stretches from saturday to friday, with a single item noted for three of those days: summer salad for saturday, chicken thighs for monday, and chicken naan for tuesday. the rest of the week is a blank slate. 220731 ... tender_square on a faded and crumpled pink post-it, words shoved in the upper most part of the page: “#6 next time – Sept 2 Labor Day WE? or Sept 9 or?” the capital e looks like a backwards 3 and the question mark following it is slunk like a 7. 220908 ... tender_square a business card advertising “personal individualized hands-on care” and “physician supervised therapy” in mineola, ny. the date of the appointment written in smeared ink on the other side: “MON 8/22 1200.” and an accordioned rectangle bearing clip art: “Extra Pizza Slice for Lunch Starting Next week Oct. 10. Students can purchase an extra slice of pizza for lunch on Fridays. The $1.00 must be turned in to the teacher by Wed. @ 3:30 for that week.” 221009 ... tender_square a slim slip of paper with typeset times new roman: “la priant de lui prêter” 221124 ... tender_square half a torn page from a book: “leonard dropped [omitted] the seat behind his desk, yanked out the flash drive, stared at it like it was the snake from the garden of eden. ‘take this back,’ he said. “let’s agree that i never saw it. i don’t want to be any kind of accessory after the fact or god knows what. have you told the police? the fbi?’ ‘henri said that if i did, he’d kill me, kill amanda too. i can’t take that chance.’ ‘i understand now. you sure that girl in the video is kim mcdaniels?’ ‘yeah. that’s kim.’ len picked up the phone, cancelled his twelve-thirty meeting, and cleared the rest of the afternoon. he ordered sandwiches from the kitchen, and we moved to the seating area at the far end of his office. len said, ‘okay, start at the beginning. don’t leave out a bloody period or comma.’ so i did. i told len about the last-minute hawaii boondoggle that had turned out to be a murder mystery times five. i told him about becoming…” 221125 ... tender_square on a sheet of blueline "miracle bind" paper, torn vertically in half, in a dramatic-swirl-yet-restrained-by-line liquid blue script: "aug. 6 matt chevallier celia campbell 'not working cycle 6 notes in his j #5 mentioned" 221209 ... raze a list of things to buy from walmart, inked in red on a faded cue card: - light bulbs - vitamins (c, d, b12) - laundry detergent - more cue cards 221211 ... tender_square a crumpled up "architecture/construction/civil" quiz marked with a penciled 8 in a circle on the top right corner: -what is the first thing you do before installing laminate flooring? "repair floor" - what size gap do you leave between the flooring and the wall for expansion? "3/8 inch" - how long should the laminate flooring be in the room it is going to be install in to acclimate to the room? "2 days" - when installing your first board, which side of the board faces the wall? tongue or groove? "tongue" - what needs to be install first underneath laminate flooring? "underlayment" - what is the minimum amount of inches laminate flooring can be staggered? "6 inches" - is laminate flooring a fixed or floating type of flooring? "floating" - what type of saw is best used to cut long boards to width? "tablesaw" - what type of molding is most commonly used to cover the expansion gap between the laminate flooring and the existing baseboard? "1/4 round" - name two types of saws that can be used to cut laminate flooring to length? "laminate flooring cutter, chop saw" 230227 ... raze on a yellow post-it note that's turning green: "jesus loves you" with the lord's name in all caps and a sloppy hand-drawn heart beside the final word. 230417 ... raze another post-it note, this one speckled with blades of grass. all it had written on it was a time (7:30), with no details to explain why it was important or what was meant to happen then. 230526 ... raze a balled-up piece of lined paper torn in two, with these words scrawled across its scarred face in blue ballpoint pen: "dec 8 test-taking skills l.s.s. 3rd period types of test: 1. true or false 2. multiple choice helpful tips: if one part of the statement is false, it's all false. look for key words: - always - often - usually - never - all - frequently - only or synonyms for these. carefully read statement. ⟶ next page" (there is no next page.) 230527 ... tender_square a blown-away sheet from a daily calendar (saturday, september 2, 2023): "on this day in 1666 the great fire of london begins at 2 a.m. in the house of king charles ii's baker on pudding lane." a receipt from sooter's studio for a $30.00 transaction made on july 21, 2023. a torn slip of white paper with an elderly person's handwriting in black liquid ink: "au@ust 30-2022 11:36 12:32 pm au@ust 31-2022 4:35 pm" the letters are uppercase except for the g's, which are lowercase; their tails don't dip like fishing rods beneath the line of the other letters and resemble the at sign. the final timestamp is torn. 230916 ... tender_square on a thrice folded piece of lined binder paper, likely dropped on the way from school, scribbled in pastel blue ballpoint in the top three quarters of the page: "cam [scribble] 1 3 [scribble] tried to take her bas 4 clean him self up 5 give him money to set the shoe" 230923 ... raze the most ambitious shopping list i think i've ever seen, written in pencil and pen on a page that looks like it was ripped out of a day planner. there are sixty-seven items spread out over three rows, some of them scribbled out or circled. at the bottom of everything, past the dill and sourdough and short ribs and thyme, underlined and in big block letters, is "dog food". 240102 ... raze written in blue ballpoint on a prescription slip: elizabeth care rx pharmacy support lead on boarding — pcc $55-60K clinical 30-40 minutes video + additional 241019 what's it to you? who go blather from